Resident Evil:02
by Artemis of the Moon
Summary: Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen once again find themselves trapped in Umbrella's Hell. Will they survive? Will they find out each other's true feelings?
1. Chapter 1

Resident Evil: 0-2

By **Artemis** of the **Moon**

        The dancing lights of a few open businesses interrupted the dark streets of Victorville, California. Citizens walked silently, clad in dark sweatshirts. The night was cool, and like others before it, forced the population to find warm places for the night. The "one-horse" town was home to a tiny population, and was used mostly for it's wide-open desert scenes in movies. Now, however, the deserts were frozen over, and would be found covered in frozen over dew in the morning.

            Rebecca Chambers covered her arms over her chest. She was freezing, and there was no way to convince her body otherwise. Her long woolen sweatshirt hung loosely as she walked slowly toward her destination. Pieces of upturned gravel crunched under her untied high-tops. She managed out a sigh, and then went back to shivering.        

How long had it been since Raccoon? She was barely able to remember that long ago, yet somehow the events were burned into her brain. She was branded for life as an enemy of Umbrella now. She felt like an escaped convict. 

As a young woman of 18, Rebecca had graduated college. She was something of a prodigy, something all her friends had marveled at since she was young. Her dream had always been to work in a lab, or something of the sort. However, after she had graduated, she was offered a position on Raccoon City's S.T.A.R.S Bravo Team. It was a simple medic position, however she had had to go through months of meaningless training and shooting exercises. Albert Wesker, her new commanding officer told her that accepting his officer would open up new career choices—even if she didn't stay. That was about the time things went awry.

Rebecca was thrown out of her train of thought when she stumbled on a piece of loose asphalt. She regained her balance, and managed to keep walking through the intense cold. The dark sidewalk was only illuminated by small patches of light widely spaced street lamps provided. She squinted and managed to see the cross street she was heading towards. Rebecca knew Barry Burton lived close, and was heading in that direction. 

The Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S had been disbanded soon after Rebecca's fist mission. They faced horrible accusations, some of which said they had been on drugs, and they had imagined what they saw. Others thought they had murdered the rest of Bravo Team. The remaining members (except Jill Valentine and Brad Vickers) managed to make it out of the city, just before it was destroyed under government orders. At that time, they decided to take Umbrella down. Rebecca felt strongly about what they did to her Bravo teammates, and what they did to her. They had managed to take out a few Umbrella command centers, before there was another spill. The team (including Barry Burton, Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, and of course, Rebecca) had recently moved to Victorville after finding what looked to be another cluster of Umbrella labs seemingly placed in the miles and miles of desert. Tonight was a meeting of all the members, to decide when they were going in and such. 

Rebecca felt nervous butterflies arise in her stomach when she thought about this. A mission meant they were constantly in danger, and she was always nervous during a mission. She didn't want to die, and she didn't want to lose anyone from her beloved rebel S.T.A.R.S team. She pushed back the horrific thoughts and began to walk at a faster pace to keep her mind off of them. 

She reached Barry's street, which was hardly lit at all. None of his neighboring houses had their lights on, which made Rebecca extremely impatient. The ill-lighted street seemed to stretch on forever and ever. She pulled a piece of paper with her own writing on it. Barry had given her directions  "_This is the place, I guess. Doesn't look like its Barry's, though._" Rebecca thought and tilted her head to observe the house.

The small yellow house was strange. The driveway curved up in awkward angle, and the garage door was a deep maroon. The white trim was aged, but not so much that the house looked old. In front of the house was an ancient swing set that Rebecca wouldn't even touch if she were five. In front of the beautiful oak door, were two signs that said, "Kiss the Cook!" and another with a large bee that said "BEE Happy!". Rebecca chuckled. "_I know Barry said be discrete, but geez, he really takes this whole "undercover" thing really seriously." _Rebecca thought and was unable to suppress a gentle laugh. 

Rebecca walked down the tilted driveway and realized how nice it would be to get of the cold. She walked up to the door and gave it a gentle knock. There were a few moments of silence and then she could see a form emerge on the other side of the French oak door. "Becks, is that you? You're alone, right?" queried the form. Rebecca cleared her throat and made sure the cold had done nothing to her voice box. "Yes, it's me. And I didn't bring a date this time" Rebecca replied. The door opened and Rebecca saw the smiling face of Barry Burton.            

He was a big guy; Rebecca figured he worked out a lot before the Mansion incident. He had a strange affinity for guns, which Rebecca constantly teased him about. Usually, Barry was a jovial, all-around nice guy. Unless someone threatened his family, of course. Barry loved his family immensely, and would never let anything happen to them. Recently he had to be away from them for long periods of time, but Barry knew it was for their own good. Rebecca felt extremely bad for his daughters, who were growing up without such a wonderful father. 

Barry managed to hug Rebecca, which rarely happened. "Hi, Barry" Rebecca smiled. "Hey" Barry smiled back "You're the last to show up, everyone else is here. I'll take your sweatshirt." Rebecca quickly unzipped the black sweatshirt and handed it to Barry. She walked into the living room, in which she found the rest of the team sitting, enjoying mugs of what looked to be coffee. Barry's living room was off white, and contained a white sofa, a white loveseat, and a small wicker chair. Chris and Claire occupied the loveseat, and Jill sat on the chair. On the glass coffee table in the middle of the room, proudly stood a large eagle statuette. The carpet had an odd maroon color that matched the garage door on the outside. 

The gang looked up at Rebecca when she entered the room. Underneath her now absent sweatshirt she wore a green tank top with yellow stripes and charcoal gray sweatpants. "Hi everyone" she said with a sly smile. "I like the look of Barry's house. Very chic!". Barry entered scowling and pushed Rebecca onto the vacant seat of the sofa playfully. "Hi Rebecca, glad you could make it" Jill said. She was wearing a teal shirt with jeans. Her light brown boyish hair cut was pulled back behind her ears. "Hey." Chris said and pulled back another gulp of coffee. Claire merely smiled warmly at her. 

Chris was undoubtedly the best marksman on the team, and Rebecca and he had shared a lot of time together in the Mansion. He had discovered after she had been lost in there for some time. She had been thankful, and she had spent a lot of time with him. Jill was stealthy and had a lot of experience with lock picks. She was an ex-thief herself and knew a lot about sneaking around. Barry kept most of the weapons for the team, and he had become the self-proclaimed leader as of recently. Everyone respected him greatly, and he was the oldest, so it made the most sense for him to direct him or her. Rebecca had enough medical experience to be a field medic, so she stayed on the team as a medic. She had been one on Bravo team, so everyone assumed she would fit best as one. She had minimal fire training, but she made due with what she had. Claire had no formal training at all; she had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. She learned fast, and soon enough her aim was thirty times better than Rebecca's, much to her embarrassment. 

"All right, down to business now, people" Barry said in a commanding tone. Everyone looked down slowly then up at Barry and nodded. "As y'all know, we've found a small cluster of Umbrella Labs about 60 miles east of this location thanks to Jill." Jill looked up and beamed, while Barry continued. "Well, the plan is we get in, we find the self destruct button, we press it, and get out. Not screwing around. If they know we're coming, we're screwed anyway. I've got a few maps, and enough weapons and ammo to blow into Fort Knox. Any Questions?" Rebecca raised her hand timidly. "Do we have any information on if there has been a spill yet? Because I think if there is one, this town might suffer just like Raccoon did." Everyone shuddered. "I doubt there has been. If there has been we'll have more problems than crazed Umbrella scientists running around." Everyone nodded communally. "Do we know exactly where the self destruct system is? I mean, Umbrella has hidden them pretty well sometimes. I also know we are working with more than one lab this time." Barry rubbed his temples and managed out a sigh. Rebecca could tell he hadn't wanted that question asked. "No, we can't know exactly where the system is located, but we know it's located in one of the central administration centers. There are three of them, and they're rather big, so we'll probably have to split up. But we'll go over that tomorrow." Everyone glanced at each other. Rebecca noticed they were all visibly shaken. No one really liked the idea of going into anything with an Umbrella Logo on it, but they knew whom they were doing this for. 

            Barry tried to comfort everyone. "Get some sleep, guys. We ship out tomorrow, as soon as it gets dark. This really isn't anything special. How many times have we done this?" Claire smiled warmly "Too many to count. We all work well together, we should be able to do this." Jill looked at the ground. Rebecca knew Jill had seen a lot, almost more than she had. But not that night. Not the night they all went into the Mansion.

Rebecca remembered seeing that overturned truck in the forest. It was covered in mud and slop, the drivers dead. She found a clipboard with the name of the prisoner the truck was carrying, a convict by the name of Billy Coen. Mr. Coen was supposed to be executed as soon as the truck arrived. Rebecca remembered praying for a dead body, but she couldn't find one. She reported to Enrico Marini, the Bravo squad leader. He told her to check things in and around, and to apprehend Coen if she found. Rebecca remembered having a titanic lump in her throat when she responded with a meek "Yes Sir". 

She wandered around the woods for about 5 minutes, until she discovered an immense horizontal shadow. She walked closer to it, and found it was a long, stopped train. Rebecca slowly made her way towards one of the entrances to one of the passenger cars, her heart beating uncontrollably. She slid the door open, took a deep breath and dove in. 

Rebecca found herself feeling strange as soon as she entered the train. The smell was horrible, almost intoxicating. She plugged her nose with her free hand, while letting her gun arm down, as it had been erect for the last three hours. She didn't want to breathe, because she found the smell eking into her body through her mouth. The smell was a mixture of corpses and of something else, something purely chemical. Feeling her heart drop, Rebecca knew she'd find a dead body. "_Wait a minute." _Rebecca thought, "_This train looks like it hasn't stopped very long ago. The lights are still on, and it looks like the power hasn't faulted. Coen couldn't have killed these people long ago, at least not while the train was in these woods. The disintegration of the human body never works this fast without help._"

Against her better judgment, she checked the doors to other rooms in the Main car. To her utter joy, they were all locked. She tried the end door, and the knob gave a freshly greased click and opened against her weight. Rebecca grabbed her gun and aimed it around the room in one swift motion. She walked towards the rows and rows of passenger seats around the car. The smell had grown so bad it was now making Rebecca nauseated. She let out a cry at what she saw. The passengers remained in their seats, pieces of their flesh tattered their laps and arms. It looked as if acid had fallen from the roof and struck the passengers. Pieces of pure bone stood out from what mangled flesh had stayed on their now dead bodies. They lay slumped of on each other, expressions of horror still on some faces. Rebecca remembered stifling a cry and making an inward decision to find survivors. "_What kind of weapons does an escaped convict have!? Nothing I've ever seen can kill people like this. This is horrible, it can't be happening!_" Rebecca remembered reaching for her radio when she heard something stir.

"Rebecca?" a voice asked concernedly. Rebecca awoke from her silent reverie to see the dramatic face of Barry Burton staring down at her. "You okay?" he asked again, his eyes now staring. "I-I'm fine. I was j-just thinking." Jill sighed. "What were you thinking about?" Rebecca hurriedly said, "I-I was just thinking about the Mansion" "I think we're all thinking about that right now, well, except for Claire" Chris said, pushing his sister playfully. Claire grinned, and socked her brother hard on the arm. "Which is exactly why we need to prevent it from happening again" Barry began to speak again, but Rebecca only half listened. 

Rebecca's eyes widened when she saw what was moving. One of the dead bodies was getting up! Rebecca managed to draw her gun and point it, deciding whether or not to warn the walking corpse. It took tiny steps toward her; it's mouth open and uttering horrible noises. Rebecca uttered a tiny cry as she heard something stir behind her. "_Damn, that's another one! What the hell is going on here! Zombies!? I know, the guys are just playing a trick on me. "Welcome to your first mission." They got real looking zombie masks and everything. They probably made the smell by mixing rotten ages and shoe polish. They probably rented out the train and the jeep and there's probably a party in the next car."_ Rebecca's thought and breath were snatched out of her, as one of the zombies places a nasty hand on her shoulder. She yelped, raised her Beretta high, and pulled the trigger. The zombie was blasted backwards, and she raised the Beretta 9mm again and fired 3 shots straight into the zombie's chest. It gave a gurgling scream as it fell to the ground. A small pool of blood began to flow from its side. Rebecca shuddered as another zombie jutted towards her. She aimed a little higher this time, and fired a few rounds. The zombie's neck gave a terrifying snap, and it's spinal cord deteriorated, leaving the walking corpse to collapse in a frozen, lifeless heap on the rich carpeting. 

She remembered being nauseated, and wanting to throw up everywhere, but she knew she had to get out of there before more began to rise. She dashed to the next room, screaming "Hello? Please someone help!" The irony was that she was part of the Raccoon City Police Department and she was screaming for help. She felt as if she forgot how to use her gun. All the training she ever had was out of her mind, and it kept screaming, "Find some help! Find some help!"

She reached the last Cabin Car and stopped to catch her breath. In front of her was a wooden wall and to her right was a series of windows. She walked to the nearest one and began to look out it, making sure everything outside was more peaceful than it was on the inside. Suddenly, a figure came running toward the window. Rebecca stepped to the side as a figure crashed threw the window, spraying glass and a red substance all over the floor. The figure managed to stand for a moment, then relax and slump to the floor in a sitting position. She looked at the figure's face and found to her horror that it was Edward Dewey, one of her Bravo Team members. "Oh my God, Edward!" She began to check over his wounds and realized there was substantial areas on his legs in which missing flesh could be found. His arm was the same way; Rebecca guessed it was from blocking the countless blows from whatever gave to Edward. "Edward? What did this to you?" He had a lifeless expression in his eyes, which made Rebecca feel he was already gone. Edward turned his head slightly, and was able to whisper slowly and evenly "Re-becca? M-Monsters a-re in the f-forest-t. Be-Becareful, Re-bec-ca." Rebecca gasped as she watched Edward's head slump down in an unusual fashion. She put a hand on his shoulder but quickly removed it as she saw a crimson flash whiz past her. She raced to her feet to check out this new enemy, and only found two large Doberman circling her hungrily. She closely inspected them once again and found that large amount of its fun and skin had fallen off. Slick, red muscle lined the dog's sides, and parts of bone were exposed. The dog's rib cage was exposed, and parts of organs jumbled around in the yellow bone. They bared their teeth at her, and red-tinged saliva flew everywhere. Rebecca screamed and dashed to the door. The two dogs picked up on this and cut off her exit, a few feet away. Rebecca began to run down the hall, when she realized she had the 9mm hanging loosely in her grip. She fired a shot at one dog, and there was a sickening crunch. Another dog jumped at her, and she whirled around and fired five even shots, each hitting its target. She began to relax, when one of the dogs got up and began to pad quietly toward her. She reacted by pulling her Beretta's trigger and closing her eyes. The buck of the gun shook her up, and when she opened her eyes, the other monster had stopped moving. 

"_What is this?! Zombies and Zombie dogs? I guess this has been what's been causing the deaths in the forest. I bet there are others out there too. I better radio Enrico._" Rebecca thought, feeling the panic die down again. She reloaded the 9mm Beretta with utter ease, but froze solid when she heard a footstep. She carefully walked toward the noise and found a man hunched over, examining something. "H-Hello?" Rebecca asked timidly. "I'm from Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S, and I'm inspecting what happened to this train." She said, trying to sound much more firm. The man whirled around, and Rebecca saw he was wearing a deep purple "wife-beater" which showed off his muscular arms and torso. He was wearing tight-fitted jeans, and his dark hair was slicked back. She clasped a hand over her mouth when she saw a pair of handcuffs dangling from his right wrist. "Y-You're Billy Coen!" Rebecca gasped. "In the flesh" Billy replied smoothly. Rebecca knew she had to take action. "You're under arrest for the murder of twenty-three people!" Rebecca shouted. Billy gave a sly grin, and waved her off. "Sorry babe, I'm already wearing handcuffs" With that, Billy walked off. 

From then on, Rebecca had kept Billy a secret from everyone. They had wandered through the train together, through a training facility, through places that were too good to be called Hell. Billy saved her a number of times, from being locked in a kitchen, to being eaten by a giant T-Virus induced centipede. She found later that Billy was an ex-Navy SEAL, and had only killed those people under orders. Rebecca trusted Billy with her life, and he had trusted her with his safety a number of times. 

"All right then, so I guess this meeting's adjourned. We ship out tomorrow at eight. I've got the guns, Jill, you bring the info, and Becky, you bring the medical stuff. See you tomorrow, everyone. Communally, everyone got up, and Rebecca remembered how much she didn't want to walk home. "Could someone give me a ride home? I kinda don't wanna walk." Chris thought about it for a moment before saying "Sure, I'll give you a ride." As Rebecca followed Chris and Claire slowly outside, she couldn't help but feel deathly nervous at their upcoming mission. The ride home was a quiet one, Claire ended up resting her head on Chris' shoulder. Rebecca knew the two siblings shared a very close relationship. Rebecca wondered how her family was doing. She hadn't seen them in so long.

She bid the brother and sister goodbye when they reached her apartment, and then made sure to wave them off as they drove into the dark. It had become much colder since Rebecca had entered Barry's house, and she knew it would be hours before it began to get warm for the morning sun. She hurried inside, the bitter cold freezing her from the inside out. She made it to her first floor light blue apartment and unlocked the door slowly. There was always a moment of wariness before going somewhere, she never knew if Umbrella had found them. 

Rebecca stifled a yawn as she entered the plain apartment. She hadn't bothered to unpack, and she really didn't care if she ever did. The rebel S.T.A.R.S never stayed in anyone place for long, and all their money came from other rebel groups and unspoken relatives. Money was usually a problem, but somehow the group always seemed to make it out okay. She crashed on the couch, and sighed. She decided to get packed tonight, and have the rest of the next to be lazy. The white walls of her boring apartment danced and Rebecca rubbed her tired eyes to make it go away. She lazily got up and grabbed several Medic Packs that hung on her wall. She had three to go around, one for each of the groups that were to be arranged for tomorrow. Inside were the typical elements of a medic bag, from band-aids to tourniquets. Several colored syringes never proved to be of any use. Also inside was Morphine, something that worked well to relieve the pain of gunshots and head wounds. A thermometer was also in each bag, along with anti-bacterial ointments for cuts and scrapes. Rebecca's had a few more different types of medicine. She made sure each bag was about full, then grabbed a combat knife and put it in her own. She didn't like carrying a gun, and since Barry wanted to keep most of the guns for himself, Rebecca was fine. She went into the bathroom and changed into something she could sleep in, and gazed tiredly in the mirror. "Oh Billy, where are you? I wish you were here," she mumbled. Somewhere deep in her heart, Rebecca was sure she'd never see Billy again. He was an escaped convict; he couldn't show his face everywhere he went. She pushed light brown hair behind her eyes, and winked. She plopped into her bed, and went into silent, dreamless sleep. 

The jeep rode in silence across the desert terrain, except for a few bumps from rocky boulders or tiny thick plants that were in the path. They had been riding in the black jeep for a little under an hour. The rebel S.T.A.R.S group transfixed their vision to the front of the black jeep. Rebecca Chambers was dressed in a black jogging suit and red sneakers. If she was standing on the harsh desert background, she could probably be seen with great difficulty. The other S.T.A.R.S members were dressed accordingly, with Barry in a navy Air Force shirt and black vest, Jill in a loose black tank top and uniform S.T.A.R.S pants, Chris in a dark red shirt and camouflage pants, and Claire in a light brown shirt and green pants she borrowed from Chris. In the back of the dark jeep was a large set of weapons (Rebecca didn't know exactly how many, she just knew there were a lot). The jeep hit another bump, which knocked Rebecca out of her seat in the back. She was wedged between Chris and Jill, who were both bigger than she was. Barry's driving was a bit extreme, but silent nonetheless. 

At about three miles away, the labs were just barely visible. Barry stooped the jeep, and got out abruptly. He opened a large ebony chest in the back of the vehicle, and grabbed his favorite Colt Magnum out. He handed Jill her Grenade Launcher, which she hung steadily around her shoulders. Chris and Claire both got silenced Magnums as well. Rebecca was finally handed to twin 9mm Beretta's, which were of course silenced as well. Her weapon choice was used mainly because she was smaller and she could be stealthy. Jill used her Launcher to clear out large rooms and hallways. "All right, everyone covered with weapons?" Everyone nodded slowly, while making sure his or her weapons were loaded accurately. "Lets see" Barry began "I'll go alone into the first center, it's smaller and I can cover more ground on my own. " Chris shifted his weight uneasily. "You sure about that Bar? I mean, one of us can go with you or somethin'." Barry grinned, "I'll be fine. Claire and Chris, you two work best together, so you'll take the bigger command center. Jill and Rebecca, you two take the last one. It's pretty midsized." Barry stroked his chin "Rebecca give Claire and me a Med-Pack, that way, all of us have at least one. I have the map for each command center here, I'll give one to each of us." He handed Rebecca a map of the inside of her center. "We're gonna have to split up here. Everyone knows where to meet?" Everyone said "Yes" simultaneously. "Great, we've gone over this enough times people, you know what to do. Remember to get out of there once the red lights start flashing. Got it?" Everyone groaned. "Let's just go already, I can't stand waiting!" Jill voiced. Barry grunted. "All right All right. Move out, people." 

Jill and Rebecca walked in silence for what felt like forever. They had to make the three-mile walk in utter silence, lest they be discovered. "Jill?" Rebecca asked, trying to break the quiet. "What?" Jill asked in concern. "Oh, I was just wondering if you were nervous?" Jill gave an almost invisible smile. "Yeah, I'm usually nervous doing this kind of thing. But I'll be a lot happier once this is all over." Rebecca put her head down. "Yeah, since we've been in the mansion, I've felt like I can never be happy or safe again." Jill gave a gentle laugh. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Once we shut Umbrella down, I think we'll all be able to settle down for good." Rebecca realized Jill's words were helping a lot. Deep down, she wondered if Jill really believed everything said. After walking with their own thoughts for a while, the two finally saw what they were going up against. A large block wall blocked most of the view of the center, except for a giant sea-green dome that protruded out of the ground. A yellow light reflected off the giant globe giving it an odd glow. Jill stopped for a moment to take it all in. Rebecca, who was looking at the map, kept walking until she noticed Jill had stopped. "Well, I guess this is it" Jill said, looking at the giant structure before her. Rebecca nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess it is."

_A/N: Well how did you like the first chapter of the story? I promise I'll update soon, maybe with a bigger chapter. Read and Review, as always reviewing always makes me review more quickly! Thanks, and Happy Holidays._

           
                                                               

                                                                               


	2. Chapter 2

**__**

RESIDENT EVIL 0-2

By: **Artemis **of** the **Moon

Rebecca fought to keep the pangs of nervousness out of her chest. They were hurting her so bad, freezing her steps and slowing her down. Every now and then she would have to take running steps to catch up to Jill. Jill's bangs were in here face, and she was making long brave strides. It was as if she wasn't afraid. Rebecca pulled out the map Barry had given her to keep her mind off her impending doom. "Hmmm." Rebecca said lightly. "Looks like the top levels are cover-ups. Looks like they're pretending to be a pharmaceutical company again." Jill smiled slightly. "Yeah. Nothing different then before. The labs are on the bottom levels, and everything on top is command and administration. We don't really need to go down to the labs, so everything is good." Jill finished. Rebecca grinned. "This should be easy, our center is pretty small." "Yeah, they always are." Jill agreed. "Becca?" she stopped suddenly, throwing Rebecca off slightly. 

"Becca?" Jill repeated, urgency in her voice. "What?" Rebecca asked, matching Jill's concern. "I want to let you borrow this" Jill said lightly, holding something in her left hand. On closer inspection, Rebecca found that it was the beret Jill had been wearing the day she had gone into the mansion. It was a gray-blue blob now crumpled in her hand. "I want you to give it back to me though, and to do that, you have to be alive, okay?" Rebecca got what Jill was saying immediately. She wanted Rebecca to be careful and live so she could give Jill back her hat. "But I don't have anything to give you!" Jill giggled "I have no intention of getting myself killed though" she managed between small fits of laughter. It was now Rebecca's turn to laugh. "Oh, and I am?" Jill shook her head, making her chestnut hair tremble violently. "No, I just have control over myself dying. But I don't have control over you dying." This caused both young women to burst into laughter. 

After they were done laughing, Rebecca was surprised that she was feeling much less tense. She stuffed the beret in her back pocket and kept walking. The desert night has became almost frigid and began to freeze her to the bones. She again looked at the enormity of the Umbrella base they were walking to. Rebecca calculated they were about a mile off now, and Jill reminded Rebecca they needed to veer off from the center of the base so they could reach the side unnoticed. She made note to stay much quieter in the future, since they were much closer to the base of operations. The rest of the walk was uneventful, and they reached the right side of the base rather swiftly. 

Jill poked her at twenty yards off from the gate and said, "No more talking until we get in." Rebecca nodded and felt her butterflies suddenly increase at the stone cold look on Jill's face. _I'm really glad she's on our side. I've seen her get vicious before, especially when times get really tough. You can do this, Rebecca. Just keep your eyes open and remember your training._

A sharp tap on her shoulder awoke her from her thoughts. Jill was poking her hard and motioning for her to crouch on the ground and be quiet. Rebecca ducked down, and noted the stench of dirt and a strange desert plant she didn't know the name of. Rebecca made an effort to keep soundlessly crouched and keep moving at the same time. Dust got in her nose and eyes, and she perished the thought of sneezing. They finally were able to crawl over to the edge of a chain link fence with nasty barbed wiring at the top.

On the other side of the fence there were a few tiny portable buildings that blocked the view of the rest of the facility. The whole facility had a macabre look, almost that of a concentration camp. The place gave Rebecca chills, but she was able to lighten up when she saw the apparent lack of guards. Out of experience, Rebecca knew most Umbrella guards were hired lackeys that didn't know which side of the gun to shoot out of. They were all armed, however, making them a danger.

Jill used her right hand to point upwards, indicating they were going to climb the fence. Rebecca was worried about climbing, as it had never really been her strong suit. The sharp edges of the rusty, dirty barbed wire struck fear into her heart like an icy arrow. She knew if she was to get stuck, the barbs would rip through her skin or clothes, leaving her as a sitting duck. 

Jill rose slowly, and put both of her gloved hands high on the fence. She secured her grenade launcher around her back so it would bump noisily into the wiring, or so Rebecca thought. Jill's climbing was stealthy and quick, and as Rebecca watched her climb to the top, switch legs around the top and begin her descent down the other side. When she had reached the bottom, she motioned for Rebecca to come. With a large exhalation, Rebecca began to climb up one side of the fence. At the top, she attempted to stretch her leg all the way over the fence, but was greeted by a sharp pain in her leg. She jerked her leg away quickly, and found herself still stuck on the fence. Her mind began to scream at her for mercy, but she ignored it and tried again. He left leg slipped before hitting the other side, causing her to lose her balance and began to lean into the sharp spikes at the top. Hurriedly she jumped with her right leg and was able to clear the barbed wire. Her hands grasped for something solid to hold onto but found nothing. Her heart sank as the unfamiliar sensation of free fall wracked her body. The sensation lasted for a moment, and then she felt hard ground under her back. Her head hit the soft part of her arm, protecting her head from the hard blow of the ground. Pain drove through her body, making her feel as if her rib cage and spine had been hit with a sledgehammer. Her vision had shut down and she was having trouble breathing. A gloved hand reached down and grabbed her arm, forcing her up. "_She shouldn't be moving me"_ Rebecca thought absently. "_You shouldn't move people with back or neck injuries."_

Once she had her bearings, Rebecca panted as she began to recollect oxygen into her lungs. The pain in her back became a small ache, and soon she began to stretch her muscles to make sure she could move. Jill moved to the closest building as soon as Rebecca had gotten up. Rebecca saw she was now crouched by the door, working with a lock pick. Jill was an ace with locks if Rebecca remembered correctly. Jill breathed a "Yes!" as the lock gave way under the pick. Rebecca watched as Jill turned the dusty brass knob and the creaking of the door giving way. Jill raised her launcher and surveyed the room for a moment before grabbing Rebecca by the wrist and shoving her inside.

Rebecca gasped for air after she entered the small portable. It was being used as a tool shed, or something of the sort. Dust laid on everything in the room, and several different types of hammers and wrenches were strewn all over the floor. The room smelled of wood, the aroma being given off by the many layers of wooden shelves that decorated the room. The air in the room was a mixture of stale, dusty, and humid (from a dryer set in the corner) which made her lungs heave in an effort to adjust. Rebecca suddenly felt awful about endangering the mission and Jill. "Jill, I'm so sorry. I tried to lift my leg over but it didn't work! I'm so sorry, someone could have heard-" Jill interrupted softly. "It's okay, that fence was pretty hard to get over, and your landing was one of the most quiet I've seen in awhile. Are you okay?" Rebecca nodded slowly. "My back hurts a little, but I can still bend and move. No nausea; and my head didn't hit the ground. Just a little shock, I guess." Jill smiled at her reassuringly "Okay, let's search this room for anything useful, then we'll head over to the command center." Rebecca nodded and began to search the small tool room. 

The light in the room was minimal, the navy blue sky outside could be seen through a tiny window. Rebecca began to squint as she rummaged through the tools in a small yellow crate. At the bottom of the crate was a small cylindrical orange object, that Rebecca found to be a flare gun. "Hey Jill, I found this flare gun. Think it's of any use?" Jill shrugged and then went back to examining the clothes dryer "I dunno. Keep it if it doesn't weigh you down or give us away." Rebecca decided the team might have use for it later, so she shoved it into on of her holsters. At the front of the room was a cork bulletin board that housed many letters and flyers of all kinds. Some were as old as a few weeks ago, yet she found one small handwritten note posted in the center. She read and reread through it quickly.

**__**

Robert-

It has become apparent to me that you have been trying to clean the rear rooms of Administration Buildings A, B, and C. These rooms are for authorized presence's only. The doors have an alarm attached to the knob of the doors, so that when pulled the alarm goes off. The only way to disarm them is to use two Umbrella I.D. cards carried only by Lab administrators of that building. You've set off the alarms several times now and we must ask you to refrain from going in them anymore.

Thank you, Doctor Jullian.

"Jill! Take a look at this!" Jill rushed over and Rebecca directed her to the note. She took the tacks out of the note and read it again. "These are our buildings! That's great work, Becca. I should tell the others." Rebecca looked at her, puzzled. Jill pulled out a small radio, and pressed the button up and down a few times to signal the other three members. The radio fizzled before erupting "This is Barry, over". "_Barry's okay!" _Rebecca thought happily. "This is Jill, we have some interesting information, over" Rebecca sensed Barry laughing on the other side. "What is it, over?" Jill cleared her throat and read the note to Barry. When she was finished, Jill said "Did you get all that, over?" "Yeah, I did. Looks like we're going to have to do some card stealing, over." Jill cleared her throat and nodded "Gotcha, Big Bear. Make sure you tell Chris and Claire, too." Barry's voice got farther away. "Okay, they signaled for radio silence a little while ago. I'm going in! Wish me luck!" Rebecca and Jill both said "Good Luck!" at the same time before Jill turned off the radio. 

"Okay, let's be on our way" Jill said, after checking the ammo in a pouch on her belt and in her grenade launcher. Rebecca nodded grimly and grabbed both silenced 9mm Berettas. She held them at the ready, and began to rethink her weapon choice. "Listen", Jill said before Rebecca reached the door. "You're gonna have to get rid of all the guards along the way. We don't want anyone to see or hear us before we get there. Okay?" Rebecca nodded again. "Let's go" Jill announced. Rebecca gave her the thumbs up, and they exited the tool shed. 

The icy cool desert air ripped through Rebecca like a knife through butter. Jill motioned for Rebecca to go first, so she raced silently in front of the older woman. As she ducked around the tool shed, she saw a few dark shadows that were barely recognizable as people. The land stretched on forever like an endless plain. The young woman knew she couldn't take one down without causing chaos, so she and Jill would have to sneak their way into the center. A small building was a few feet away from the shed, and Rebecca motioned Jill to follow her. Rebecca dashed stealthily to the tiny building with Jill on her tail. After resting there for a moment, Rebecca noticed an incline of the ground. She again motioned for Jill to follow along the base of the small hill. Rebecca knew the shadows would provide cover and guide them. Behind another small portable, Rebecca stopped. She looked in front of her and saw a large yellow-green dome. This was it. 

She looked around at the giant white building for a place to take cover right next to the building was a waist high brick wall protruding from the ground. She motioned Jill to stay where she was and hugged the wall of the portable, and ran to the wall. Rebecca saw light emerge around her and then dove to the ground and rolled into the wall, guns in hand. She crawled, using the shadow for cover. She noted that she was crawling towards the back of the center. Suddenly, she heard a noise that stopped her heart for a moment. The sound of footsteps. Using the ground as leverage, she catapulted herself forward to see who was walking. A shadow recognizable as a man was walking around what looked to be the back patio area of the building. She could see no more shadows, so she cocked the semi-automatic, checked the silencer, and raised it. She aimed the best she could for being on the ground. She steadied her hand with her arm, and fired. The sound made by the silencer surprised her, probably because she assumed it would be quieter. The body slumped to the ground in a heap, and Rebecca felt a strange sense of accomplishment.

Rebecca wasn't a killer. She only wanted to get the job done. She wasn't at all trigger happy, in fact, she never killed anyone whom she didn't need to. Rebecca got up, a motioned for Jill's help with the body. Jill raced up the small hill and down to the shadow to where Rebecca was standing. Together, the grabbed an arm of the guard and shoved him into the shadows of the wall. Rebecca grabbed some dirt and rubbed it in the minimal area of blood, disguising it as mud; maybe even as spilled coffee. For a moment the young woman's face was transfixed on the guard's body, his face shaped in an expression of horror. "Hide your guns, let's surprise whoever's in there." Jill whispered, and Rebecca watched as Jill's stone face returned. Jill reversed her grenade launcher so it hung loosely on her back. Rebecca put her guns in their belt holsters and stood behind Jill. "Ready? We're gonna get someone to guide us to a Lab Admin, then get the cards. Okay?" Rebecca gave her a thumbs up sign. "Yeah, I got it, let's disarm any guards we see." Jill unexpectedly pulled the glass door open and walked in. Rebecca followed suit. 

Inside, there was a tiny room that looked to be a waiting room. Pink chairs were stacked next to each other around a glass table with a few magazines on it. In front of them, a young brunette girl was seated at a desk with a computer and phone system. She was talking to someone on the phone enthusiastically; Rebecca guessed a girlfriend or something. "Oh, sorry hon, I gotta go." The girl said when she noticed Rebecca and Jill. She quickly hung up the phone and looked attentively at the guests, as she had obviously been trained to do. On the front of her tiny desk a plaque read "Cara Wheeler - Secretary." Painted on the wall behind her was the strange red and black Umbrella logo. "What can I do for you?" Cara asked sweetly. Rebecca noticed an adjoining hallway she hadn't seen at first on her right. She decided to stay behind it, in case someone happened to wander down that way.

Jill swiftly turned the strap of grenade launcher around and showed it to the young girl threateningly. "We're here to see a Lab Administrator, care to show us where to find one?" Rebecca drew her guns and waved them at the girl. "Um, Y-Yes of course I will. P-Please don't hurt me!" Rebecca felt sorry for the girl; she was only a secretary after all. Jill gritted her teeth, obviously annoyed with the girl. "Now don't you scream or talk, I might have to hurt you. Cooperate, and you'll be fine." Cara went pale and gave a grim nod. "Hey Cara? You talking on the phone again?" An unfamiliar but gruff voice asked from the right. A man in a dark olive pull over carrying an AK-47 looking gun emerged from the right and swiftly raised his gun. "Hold it right there. Drop the gun or I'll shoot miss." Rebecca gasped and then realized. He didn't see her, he only saw Jill. She couldn't disarm the man now, or he'd try to shoot Jill. Cara opened her mouth to warn the man, but Rebecca pointed toward the man's skull and fired once from each gun. The man crumpled and was almost able to bring his fingers to his head before colliding with the wall and going down. Rebecca pushed the man toward the wall and then pointed her guns toward Cara again. Jill grabbed the girl by her under arm and dragged her in front of the desk. "Take me to him" Jill said to the Cara, who looked like she was about to faint. Cara walked with Jill, who had wadded up the girl's sweater in her free hand, and stabbed the point of the launcher into her back. Cara led them to and oak door with a plaque that read "James Carrie - Lab Administrator" Jill shoved Cara into the room where she toppled over a desk and fell over weakly. The man behind the desk looked sternly at her--until he realized what was going on. 

"Who are you?" he demanded. The man was pale, but Rebecca was sure he was naturally that way. Rebecca noticed an I.D card hanging from around his neck. "It doesn't matter who we are. We're here for that." Jill announced, pointing to the tags" With a tug, Rebecca ripped it from his neck. "Ouch!" the man whined. "I demand you stop this right now! When security gets a hold of you-" Jill sighed. "Shut up! Do you want to die? If you keep talking I will light this office like a Roman Candle!" That shut him up. Cara whimpered, helpless against two leather chairs. Jill turned to Rebecca and said "One of us needs to watch them while the other grabs the last key card." Rebecca thought for a moment. "_I think I'd much rather sit with the loud mouth._" "You can go if you want, I think your aim is better than mine. " Rebecca said coolly. Jill nodded. "Okay, If I'm not back in ten, come looking for me. Oh, but gag that one first. Ciao!" she said and left the office. 

Rebecca made sure to lock the door in case someone happened to stumble in on them. Carrie was mumbling something in his corner while Cara had silent tears running down her cheeks. "You're going to die, you know" Carrie said rudely to Rebecca. "Do you think you deserve to live after what you did to Raccoon City?" Carrie became enraged. "Umbrella had nothing to do with that! You can't prove it!" Rebecca walked up to him, and shoved the gun into his forehead. "Don't think I won't kill you right now, now sit down before I kick the shit out of you." Carrie's face dropped and he sank down farther into his corner. Rebecca had even surprised herself with her outburst. It felt good. She hadn't ever really been able to vent about Raccoon, and James Carrie was so smug about the work that killed thousands of people. She hated him.

Six minutes after Jill left, there was a banging on the door. "It's me!" Rebecca recognized Jill's voice and unlocked the door. "Got it!" Jill said triumphantly. "Yay!" Rebecca said. "What about these two? You know they won't be quiet if we leave them alone." Jill pondered for a minute "Let's tie them up." Jill took the strap off her grenade launcher and wrapped it around Carrie's waist. Rebecca grabbed some strong medical tape and gagged both he and the girl. After they were both secured, Jill locked the deadbolt and closed the door. 

"Now we have to find the rear rooms, which should be around here somewhere." Rebecca announced, pulling the map from her Med-Kit. "I think they're this way, come on." The pair ran quickly to a pair of double doors on the other side of the cubicles they had seen upon entering. They stood in front of the doors for a few second when on both sides of them they heard footsteps. Rebecca slid the silencers off her guns. They had been found. Rebecca readied her guns as she saw three guards dressed in black round the corner she was facing. She started firing a bit early, knocking paint and plaster from the wall. Luckily, the guards had wandered straight into the rain of plaster, confusing and blinding them. The recoil of the guns blasted Rebecca backwards a slight bit. Two of the guards had been killed with headshots, the last was slumped over the back wall. From behind her, Rebecca felt immense heat and a slight rumbling from under her. Jill had launched a grenade! When Rebecca turned, Jill was on the ground, and three black wreaths of charred flesh lay beside her. 

"Jill!" Rebecca yelled, dashing next to her fallen comrade. "I'm okay, a bullet caught my shoulder." The young woman reached into her Med-Kit, and grabbed a rubber tourniquet. She tied it onto Jill's arm, and loaded a syringe with Morphine. She flicked the needle and quickly found the vein to administer the drug. "This should take away most of the pain." Jill smiled appreciatively and then her face turned to an expression of horror. "Rebecca! Look out!" Fear crawled up Rebecca's spine as she reached for one of her pistols and spun around. Her shoe caught the carpet and she fired as she went down face first. The intruder Jill had seen muttered a few words before falling down on the carpet, crimson blood leaking from his wounds. Rebecca examined him. He was obviously a scientist, a lab assistant or something of the sort. Rebecca pushed back the thought that she killed an innocent as she tended to Jill's wounds. She used heavy cloth and medical tape to stop the bleeding in her shoulder, and then with strong arms, lifted her up. "I knew there was a reason we kept you around." Jill said jokingly. "You ready?" she added. "Ready as I'll ever be." Rebecca responded. Jill handed her Carrie's photo I.D. card and she got it ready to slide in. Jill did the same. "1..2..3!" Rebecca counted off, then pushed the card into the slot, and pulled it out again. The unnoticed red light above the double doors gave a loud buzz then turned a nasty shade of green. The doors gave a little click and then Rebecca and Jill shoved their way through. 

"Barry said it should be through here somewhere." Rebecca said as the two women wandered through the hallways. Jill opened a door, and Rebecca made sure to reload her guns with a new clip in each. Jill pushed the large door open and burst in, Rebecca on her heels. Inside several scientists were drinking coffee and eating donuts. Until of course, the dirty pair rushed in, weapons held high. "Nobody move! Everyone on the ground and hands on your heads!" Jill yelled upon entry. The scientists looked flustered and most dove to the ground without a second thought. A few of the females gave screams of terror. A few of the more brave men stood, until they glanced at the guns the two women were toting, then took their own place on the ground. 

"I want you all to stay in this position until I saw otherwise." Jill commanded. A few cries of sorrow were let out. "Becks, I want you to scout out the area and find the system. I went last time, remember?" Rebecca felt tense again. "Right" she said, and dashed outside the break room. Rebecca looked around the new area. In the back was the break room, and in the front was an empty infirmary. She ducked down an empty hallway and ran as fast as she could. She was caught off guard when a man with an automatic weapon opened fire down the hallway. "Shit!" she screamed as she dove through a door that was just opening. She felt herself fall through the door and collide with something else. She got up as fast as she could and jammed the door shut and locked it. The room was moderate sized, about the size of the break room, with machinery littered around it. The machines were large, with large handles with lenses hanging off them. A x-ray machine lay in the middle of the room. She dove to the floor as she heard massive amounts of gunfire coming through the small window that was inscribed into the door. Glass splashed on the floor getting in Rebecca's hair. She shielded her eyes from the glass, while trying to maintain a steady aim on the door. She listened and heard about three different voices outside the door, obviously pondering whether to come in or not. Rebecca backed up and the clanging metal tray she slammed into made its existence apparent. As she saw a hand reach into the room, through the window on the door, she fired shots at it, but she missed several times. The hand twisted the lock and then disappeared through the window. Rebecca felt hot tears falling from her face. She was going to die. 

__

A/N: Weeeee…cliffhanger! Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it. I really hated this chapter, but I hope you all like it. I decided to go with the Remake for Gamecube for the base of this story, since RE0 is on Gamecube. Other than that…um…yeah. I'll update soon, and Billy will make his entrance shortly. If Rebecca survives. Tee-Hee! 

**__**


	3. Chapter 3

Resident Evil 0-2  
By Artemis of the Moon  
  
Rebecca felt sheer terror crawl mercilessly up her spine as she heard the dreadful creak of the small metal door handle. The men outside had currently stopped talking, either because they heard Rebecca stop moving, or because they had resorted to frantic motions to relay their plans. "I gotta think fast. What am I going to do? I'm gonna die and screw up the mission and endanger my teammates. I wonder if they'll miss me?" Rebecca thought sadly.  
She held out a pale, shaking hand. Absently, she thought about the strange amount of bright light that engulfed the white enamel room. She looked above her and saw the cause. Several fluorescent lamps decorated the room. Rebecca searched frantically for a light switch, and found one at the front of the room. "Shit! I can't make it all the way over there in time. And they'll just switch the lights back on if I could."  
Rebecca slid one had over her Berettas and gasped in remembrance. In one swift moment, she had the revolvers drawn and ready for action. She fired shots at every light she could find. They gave sickening snaps as the safety glass shattered and sprinkled the room. Halogen fluids began to drip steadily from the lamps, and Rebecca made sure to move to the middle of the floor, in front of the x-ray machine. Her trembling fingers made their way shakily to her belt holster, which carried extra Beretta ammo. Rebecca had almost finished reloading both weapons when she heard the guards come in.  
They rushed in quietly; Rebecca had barely noticed their entrance. She heard the rushing of fiber pants swish together in fluid motion, causing her to begin panicking. The one sound she heard earlier was now replaced by three presences. "I can't take them all out, what am I gonna do?" Rebecca thought in the midst of her panicked mind. One was coming toward her quickly, and she tried to picture his body by the sounds he was making. She began to dig her Med-Kit for something, anything. She thought of surrendering, but she was sure to be killed that way. Maybe Jill would come looking for her? No, Jill was waiting for her.  
Her hands made their way to her holster, which she found a foreign object. She pulled out the orange flare gun she had attained an hour or so ago in the tool shed. She began to feel achy, her back being twisted in several different ways. Her mind wanted sleep, but the adrenaline rushing through her body wouldn't let her close her eyes. "Flare gun? Oh, I know!" Her plan was a simple one. Disable one man with the flare gun, use the blinding flash as a surprise to take down the other ones. She knew it would take effort and speed, but most of all, aim. Rebecca lifted the flare gun in one hand, and used a Beretta in another. She estimated that one man was on the opposite side of the harboring machine, and another was coming up on her side. Listening but not hearing the last and final guard, Rebecca cursed inwardly.  
Rebecca raised the flare gun over the machine slightly, the darkness surprising her. It was dark in there, now that she noticed. She heard one of the men opening up a cupboard or something of the sort. She took this as advantage to press the tiny orange trigger her finger had been hovering over. A blinding light exploded out of the cylindrical tube, and Rebecca was surprised by the recoil of the small gun. She tossed it aside and resumed steadying her Beretta hand and fired two shots to her front and left. She quickly moved to the side, and scuttled between to a smaller white machine in the corner.  
Rebecca noticed that the door would be a quick run from her new position, but she couldn't risk the men on her tail. The room was now bathed in a yellowish-orange light, centered in the front of the room. The man had caught the flare in the leg and was screaming now, totally surprised by the sudden attack. Rebecca noted that when she had fired, she had missed him. She had also fired at the man to her left, and she could no longer see him. The last of Umbrella's lackey's was spouting curses left and right. The young medic took that opportunity to fire a round into his chest, before taking cover behind the unrecognizable machine. The last man had fired several shots from his machine gun before realizing none of his bullets were penetrating. Metal twisted and screamed from behind her, and Rebecca winced as she felt the much smaller machine move back. She took a quick, impulsive run to the door, and decided to slam it shut before leaving, convincing the guard she had left.  
Rebecca heard limping steps from the area of the pursuer, and she hurriedly unzipped her Med-Kit, and found the combat knife she had put in there. She stifled her breathing, and stayed completely still. The man had come before she was ready, and Rebecca quickly kneed him in the groin, and shoved the knife into his chest. The felt the knife chew past muscle and flesh, and warm, wet blood began to spill onto her hands and the floor. Since she didn't really have another use for the knife, it was never pulled out. She let go of the man who fell to the floor lifelessly.  
The adrenaline once flushing throughout Rebecca's body began to settle, and she began to reload her twin pistols. She raised them to the ready and ran through the now empty hallway. The run was uneventful, and she saw nothing of guards or lab technicians as she ran through the hall.  
At the end of the constant curves of the seemingly endless hallway, she found herself in front of a medium sized door with a nameplate reading "Security-Command Central". Rebecca decided this was what she was looking for. She twisted the pristine metal knob, but her heart fell as it halted mid-twist. She sighed, remembering she didn't have any lock picks on her.  
She dashed down the long hallway until she reached the Lab Break Room. She ran in breathless from then run, and forced out "Jill, the door is locked." Jill nodded and began fishing around her pockets for a lock pick. "No, I can't use it as well as you can. You go, I'll watch them." Jill protested to this.  
"Let's both go, none of these guys have any weapons, I checked them" Jill said. Jill held up a hand and began to give orders saying that she would come back when she was done with business, and kill the lot of them if she found anyone missing. The scientists gave grim nods and cries. The two women left the room, Rebecca leading.  
"You have any trouble?" Jill asked. "No, not really. Just a few guards." Rebecca said, trying to be modest. "Do you really think those people in the break room will try anything?" Jill shook her head. "No, they're all unarmed." Rebecca felt better having her partner back, and decided that together they could probably take on anything.  
"This is it" Rebecca said with her hands out towards the door. Jill worked on the door for a moment, and then the lock gave. Jill went in, followed by Rebecca. Rebecca almost hit her head on a large metal object. The red light in the room reminded her of a photo dark room, and there were numerous colorless TVs that lined the room.  
"Don't move" a breathless voice said. Rebecca realized the metal object was the barrel of a gun, now pointed at her forehead. Rebecca's breath caught in her lungs, as if breathing would trigger the blasting of the gun. Rebecca looked past the metal barrel to see a blonde woman with icy blue eyes and a teal business suit on. Her hair was pulled back into a strange bun, and her eyes hidden behind white wire glasses. A ferocious glare was focused at Jill, who stood ready with her launcher pointed at the woman.  
"Put it down." Began the woman "or I will shoot her". Jill didn't comply, to Rebecca's shock. Instead, Jill began to speak calmly. "It's okay, I don't need that sweep side-kick anyway." Jill said nonchalantly. The woman averted her cold gaze to Rebecca. "Looks like you're dead, honey." The woman said. Rebecca's mind screamed with thoughts as she examined the situation. "Jill really does hate me. I'm going to die and she doesn't even care! Wait a minute, why did she say "sweep" into that sentence? 'Sweep side-kick'? That doesn't make sense. Sweep side? Sweep Kick? Oh, Sweep Kick! She wants me to kick her!" Rebecca decided, as her panic began to fade with the sudden decision. Jill was talking again, with the same air of indifference Rebecca detected earlier. Rebecca inhaled slightly, not trying to catch the attention of the blonde woman, and then moved. She dove to the ground, palms down and pulled her leg in a circular motion. The woman was surprised as Rebecca's leg hit her, but she barely was knocked off balance. Jill took the surprise and shoved the but of the launcher into the blonde girl's head, knocking her glasses off her head. She dropped the pistol she was armed with, and with a few more whips from Jill, the girl was unconscious. Rebecca and Jill high fived and then began to search the room for the self-destruct system.  
"Odd that they would put it on the first floor, isn't it?" Rebecca thought while searching through files and folders spread out on the desk in front of her. The crimson light they were bathed in didn't help the search, but any light available was helpful. Rebecca jumped when she heard a smash behind her, but stopped when she saw Jill's hand come up. "It's nothing, just a smashed radio." Jill smiled. Rebecca returned to her search, and began to play with several knobs and button mounted next to the desk. Some changed angles of security cameras, or changed resolutions of the pictures in the TVs. All in all, her search ended without success.  
"Jill, did you find anything?" Rebecca asked. "Nothing, you?" "Not a thing. Jill, where could it be?" Rebecca stated, deep concern in her voice. "Let's go, maybe Barry or the other two found something" Jill said, and ran out the door. Rebecca followed, but she realized she was quickly losing energy. Her once adrenaline filled muscles were now weak and lifeless. Her back ached painfully, but with motion it began to soothe. Her feet hurt from running, her tennis shoes becoming cramped. Sweat now poured from her pores as the heat from the building warmed her over. "I wonder how Jill is holding up. She's sure being strong, I know her shoulder must be hurting." Rebecca thought, glancing at Jill's bloodstained shoulder.  
"Jill, how is your shoulder holding up?" Rebecca said, voicing her concern. Jill glanced over at Rebecca in mid step and shrugged, obviously at a loss for words. The younger woman decided to stay silent, as Jill was obviously thinking. As she was just about to pass the break room, Jill stopped and entered. Rebecca decided to stay outside, for cover.  
Rebecca listened as the ex-thief began to the men and women inside the room that armed rebel guards were outside and ready to shoot on sight. She also heard the muffled responses of the distressed victims inside. When Jill exited the room, she had a broad grin pasted on her face and whispered "Hook, Line, and Sinker."  
The pair ran through the winding pathway and through the double doors. They made their way throughout the rooms, passing the dead bodies of guards on the way. Rebecca also noticed the scientist she had had killed in a panic. She hated herself for killing him; he was probably just a normal man who came to work that day expecting hassles and trials. He probably went to college and earned himself an education. He was just at the wrong place at he wrong time. "And so was I" Rebecca thought, recalling the Mansion and Training Facility.  
Exhausted, the two women reached their starting location, now emptied out. Jill grabbed the radio out of one of her pockets and clicked the receiver up and down, signaling those on the other side. A deep voice on the other side responded, sounding slightly annoyed. "Yeah?" Barry asked. "We can't find it, Barry. It's not here. Have you guys had any luck?" Jill began to ramble. "I didn't find anything, and I lost contact with Chris and Claire. Stay there, I'll meet you." With that, Barry clicked out. Jill wore an expression of worry on her face, obviously thinking of what had had happened to Chris and Claire. For a moment, she sat staring with a vacant stare at the window. Next, she gave a wince of pain and fell to her knees. Rebecca rushed over to her. "Jill, are you okay?" Rebecca asked stupidly. The older girl gave a slight sigh, and then winced again when she tried to move her left shoulder. "The pain's come back again" Jill said with a gasp as she tried to move again. Rebecca quickly administered more morphine, and then helped her partner up. "Jill, can you walk?" She nodded slowly "It feels better now, I just don't know what happened. Can we go outside and wait for Barry now?" Rebecca gave Jill a smile and offered her arm to help in walking and they exited the immense Umbrella building.  
The night air washed over the beads of sweat that had formed on Rebecca's brow from running through the overly warm building. The cold felt rejuvenating to her, and her muscles seem to relax in the temperature change. The sky shown several stars, barely visible by the bright lights that surrounded the building. Rebecca kept her guns raised, although there was no immediate danger. The silence was interrupted by a small churning sound. Rebecca listened hard in an attempt to make sure the sound was not a mere dream. The churning grew louder, and Rebecca spoke softly to alert Jill. "What was that?"  
Her question answered itself as the swishing sound became louder, as if it was about to slice her eardrums into pieces. Air began to make small circles around the two as dirt began to kick itself up around them like a small cyclone. Her mind screamed for her to run, to escape and leave Jill there. Surprisingly, Jill shoved Rebecca's hand away from her upper arm and said in a cold, uncaring voice "Run". Rebecca had no time to react as her fear emerged from over the dome. A screaming helicopter appeared in front of the two rebels. Rebecca let out a muffled scream, just as the chain gun mounted on the side of the chopper began to spin quickly.  
Rebecca darted to one side as she heard the bullets begin to lash out them. On her descent toward the ground, she felt something strong support her under her ribcage. A gloved hand reached over the top of her chest and another below it. The anonymous person heaved himself or herself backward in a fluid motion, taking Rebecca with them. She felt the person hit the ground, and she recognized they were now at the side of the building. About half of the helicopter was still visible. The light from the chain gun was still bright, and Rebecca still felt dirt overturn itself and land on her. She let her hand go weak and the 9mm slipped out of it. Pieces of the wall began to fall on top of her as the bullets ricocheted off it. Dust was flung into her eyes, and tears began to cleanse them. Rebecca was dazed; she forgot where she was and what she was doing. She didn't remember how she lived through the copter firing at her.  
"Rebecca, get up and run!" a voice yelled as loud as it possibly could into her ear. It wasn't Jill, it had a slightly more feminine tone to be her. Rebecca numbly turned her head to see who her savior was. Claire stood behind her, pulling at her arm. Her face was covered in dirt, and her ponytail had vanished into disarray of brown hair. She held her magnum at her side, an expression of fear on her face.  
It was in noticing the Redfield girl that Rebecca remembered her partner. "Jill!" Rebecca screamed. "Claire I can't leave Jill!" Rebecca shouted at the girl pulling hard on her arm. "Just come on, Rebecca! I think she's with Chris!" With that, Rebecca felt the rock in her heart break and she crawled to her feet and ran. The helicopter appeared above them, bathing them in the glow of a spotlight. The gun atop the monster began to fire again, and time seemed to slow down. She was behind Claire, who was running as fast as she could. Her heart was beating tremendously fast, and she watched as Claire opened a door of a building that had recently appeared between them and their pursuer. In one solid jump, Rebecca leaped into the building, and Claire slammed the door behind her.  
Rebecca felt solid carpet rub into her elbows as she slid. She opened her eyes and realized the darkness was overwhelming in their new haven. Rebecca got to her feet and brushed herself off. "Let's look for a light switch." Claire suggested. Rebecca could tell her new partner was breathless from running, but was still making an effort to move around. Rebecca groped the wall in an effort to find anything that resembled a light switch, but quickly found nothing. She bumped into something in the middle of the room, and by using her sense of touch, she found it was a table. A large table, it seemed to stretch past the small building. Her footsteps made an interesting hollow noise on the carpet of the set aside room, which made her think of what kind of wood made that noise.  
"I think it's gone." Claire said optimistically. Rebecca agreed; it seemed the helicopter had left in search of easier prey. It reminded Rebecca of a bird, an eagle or something of the like. The sound of screaming wood woke Rebecca from her thoughts. The room began to shake violently as the swishing of the helicopter could be heard from the outside. Wood began to splinter and crack under the pressure of the speeding bullets. She heard Claire scream something, but it was lost under the breathtaking noise. Rebecca ducked down and covered her hands over her head, and peeked though her arms to see several quarter sized bullet hole appear out of what looked to be thin air. Rebecca feared the building was about to collapse under the pressure, but it seemed to hold. Each hole created by a bullet caused the room to gain light, which radiated through the hole. "Think, think.." Rebecca's mind urged. A piece of the wall was knocked astray by a bullet and hit Rebecca on the arm, and she assumed it was a bullet. After minutes of straight gunfire to the building, there came an overwhelming silence. The silence lasted for a moment, obviously neither woman wanted to ask the other if they were hurt. Rebecca started first, unfit with the silence. "Claire? You okay?" Claire groaned, and Rebecca saw her stand up. "Yeah I'm okay. Are you?" Rebecca nodded. Claire watched out the now broken window, Magnum in hand. "I think Chris and Jill distracted it from us. By the shrapnel and glass all over the ground, my best be it they fired a grenade or two at it." Claire said. Rebecca felt her heart jump. "They're okay! We're okay! We might just make it out of this!" Rebecca thought excitedly. "What are we going to do now?" Claire asked suddenly, surprising Rebecca. "I-I wish I knew." Rebecca admitted sadly. Claire opened her mouth to speak but stopped suddenly. "W-What is it?" Rebecca asked, fear glazing over in her eyes.  
"Shhhh. Footsteps" Claire whispered, raising her Magnum at what was left of the once usable door. Rebecca ran her hands from her Med-Kit to her belt holster, which contained only one of her dual 9mm Berettas. She picked it up, and pointed it the same direction Claire's Magnum was facing. Rebecca inwardly cursed for losing her other gun, and she knew if a scientist picked it up, they would probably come after the rebels. Her breath caught in her chest as someone rushed in through the door. She didn't regret not firing, when she noticed who the mysterious man was.  
Barry Burton rushed in, obviously out of breath and tired. "We have a problem." He said slowly. "What I-is it?" Rebecca asked timidly. "That chopper is still chasing after Chris and Jill. Jill looks tired, and she can't seem lift her shoulder up high enough to launch a 'nade at it. Plus, guards are rallying and going to be looking for us soon enough. On better news though, I found the entrance to the underground labs, and managed to strike a deal with the man with the key" Barry said, holding up what looked to Rebecca like a lift key. "My plan is to get Jill to meet us here and hand me the grenade launcher. Then, someone should go with her and clear the lift area, while the rest of us take down the chopper. Okay?" Claire spoke up. "I'll take Jill, you and Chris and Rebecca should be able to take it down." Barry nodded at Rebecca. "That okay with you, Becky?" Rebecca gave him her trademark thumbs up sign. Barry gave a gruff snort and then began to speak again. "I'm gonna run then back here, be ready when we get back." With that Barry disappeared through the door, leaving them in utter silence.  
Rebecca was nervous. She wasn't even sure she knew how to take down the guards inside the 'copter, much less the helicopter itself. Especially with her lack of weaponry. Minutes passed by like seconds, and she suddenly wished she were in her bare apartment, massaging her back in the warmth of her shower. The young medic estimated about five minutes before Barry's return this time, bringing Chris and Jill with him.  
Jill's face had attracted more dust since the last time she had seen her. Clods of dust collected in her once chestnut brown hair, turning it a toxic brown. Chris was extremely dustier than Jill. His clothes now contained a layer of brown. His face was hidden behind a mask of dirt, which Rebecca thought looked like a mud mask. Jill's shoulder looked worse now, and Rebecca badly wanted to change the dressing, because infection was imminent as it stood now. "Jill-" Rebecca began, but Barry cut her off shortly. "Switch weapons now, everyone." Jill handed Barry her launcher, and she walked over to Rebecca and slid her hand around the pistol Rebecca was now holding. "Where's your other one?" Jill asked. "I-I lost it when the helicopter attacked. Sorry." Rebecca felt like the weakest link again. Sometimes, she felt as if she was only there because she was a former S.T.A.R.S member.  
Barry handed Rebecca his Magnum and said with mock sadness. "Take care of her." Rebecca giggled for the first time in a long time. "Everybody know the plan?" Barry boomed. Rebecca always thought he would get louder as he became more nervous. "Aim for the sides, the underneath, and towards the pilot. We just need to disable it. Try to weave when you run, and never stay out in the open." Rebecca nodded, and felt pangs of anxiety begin to eat her alive. Her body tensioned, and she struggled to remember Barry's advice. She looked at her belt and positioned the Magnum ammo the large man had given her. She watched Barry direct Jill and Claire through the small, shattered window of the conference room. "Let's go, gang" Barry said. Suddenly, Rebecca realized she was running out in the cool air, Magnum clutched in hand, the bright light of the monstrous man-made device shining in her face.  
  
A/N: Hey everyone, I decided to put this chapter up as a New Year of work. W00t! Congrats to all us fanfic writers, who provide awe (and sometimes laughter) to those who read them. As always, read and review. Hope you like it, and Happy New Year to All! *Bow* 


	4. Chapter 4

Resident Evil 0-2

Rebecca felt a rush of cool air under her as she ran. Her feet moved as quickly as they could; though she was pretty sure she was developing blisters. The balls of her feet ached numbly, and her legs longed for a sitting position. 

Her body pushed itself forward, and then she decided to veer left. The hot light left her soon, and she found herself feeling about ten pounds lighter now that the spotlight wasn't following her. She clutched the magnum Barry had given her in overly sweaty palms. She exhaled, and found herself tired from running. 

Rebecca watched through drooped eyes as Claire supported Jill and they ran, the light merely swinging on and off them. They were running extremely fast, especially Jill with her disabled arm. Chris had run forward with them apparently, but stopped soon after to fire. Barry had verged to the right, and it looked to the young medic that he was finding the perfect angle with Jill's former grenade launcher. Rebecca felt herself raise the Magnum and begin to fire, each round recoiling against her tired muscles.

Her and Chris' fire was obviously doing nothing but bouncing off the metal, giving off heated sparks that dissipated before they reached the ground. Chris' Magnum kept firing, while Rebecca began to change her angle. "_Come ON, Barry. These peashooters aren't going to anything unless we puncture the safety glass or light the gas tank._"

She made sure to run forward as to get an angle on the front of the large flying machine. It had sighted Chris, who was now running as fast as he could in circles. Barry still struggled with the launcher. "_That's unlike him. He must be really worried if he's choking_" Rebecca thought, driving fear into her heart. She began to fire the Magnum at a rapid rate, watching the some of the bullets drive through solid metal and others ricocheting off. Chris was getting tired, as his pace was beginning to slow. The light was now falling on his body, and the light emitted from the chain gun on the chopper's side was directed at him.

Bravely, she ran toward Chris firing all the while. The bullets did the same, but at least she could give Chris a break. She stepped into the spotlight, but made sure to stay out of the way of the chain gun. 

"Becky!" Chris gaped in confusion. He was panting, and his dirty face was lined with sweat. 

"Run! I'll take care of it for awhile. Tell Barry to hurry his ass up!" Rebecca screamed over the inaudible conditions. She imagined her ears bleeding profusely from the intolerable sound, but the decibel count hadn't risen quite that high. Or had it?

Chris Redfield nodded and ran under the helicopter, all the while firing under it. Simultaneously, it had begun to shoot at Rebecca, kicking dust into the air. She ran under it also, and began to fire at its underside. Sparks rose and then disappeared, much to Rebecca's utter surprise. The helicopter nodded its head down, and continued to fire massive amounts of ammo haphazardly at her. She fired, but her shots, like the helicopter's, missed totally. 

The two performed an ironic sort of dance. Rebecca would head under the helicopter firing and usually missing, while the copter would back up or aim down at her, ending up unsuccessful. "_Damn it, where are you guys?_" She let out a small scream as someone grabbed her gun arm.

Chris grabbed her arm and darted towards another tiny portable. Barry was nowhere in sight. The sound of fire echoed from behind them. The young woman's legs were pounding as fast as they could, but they were tired. They reached the portable and ran inside. 

Rebecca saw that the place looked like a classroom, with two plain tables placed next to each other and several chairs around them. The carpeting was red and blue intertwined, giving it a purplish hue. Chris still grabbed her arm, obviously forgetting he was still holding on. They walked over to a wall, which Chris pushed aside to show Barry, and an identical classroom. The man was sitting at the table, launcher in hand. It looked as if he was shaking something out of it. "Gun is jammed", Barry said, answering Rebecca's inward question.

"It won't come down!" she exclaimed, surprising herself.

"It will, down worry. It's gonna take more than a couple Magnum shots to take that sucker down. But on a lighter note, your aim has gotten a lot better, Becky." Chris smiled, his white teeth shining past his dirt caked, sweat stained face. Rebecca felt extremely happy that "Marksman Chris Redfield" said her aim was getting better. She was drawn out of her bliss by a loud swear word from Barry. Her face fell when she assumed the worst. The launcher was unfixable. "Wonder why the chopper isn't comin' after us. It did when you and Claire were locked in the conference room." Chris mused to break the sad silence. Rebecca wondered the same exact thing. She also wondered how Jill and Claire were faring. Her thoughts again wandered to Jill's shoulder, and how long the cloths would hold against the torrents of blood.

"Got it!" Barry yelled triumphantly. He reloaded some flame rounds into the launcher, discarding the older grenade rounds. Rebecca reloaded her magnum, and froze when she heard the first door they came through open.

Chris rushed to the side of the sliding wall, and Rebecca moved out of the way next to Barry. The wall came sliding over, and a pale man with an olive colored pull over rushed in. He gave a yelp in pain as Chris fired a shot from his magnum into the man's leg. Blood rushed from the exit wound and the man dropped his machine gun. Chris kicked the man down, and ran past the first wall, and into the out side, Rebecca and Barry on his heels. 

The helicopter hovered steadily in front of the building, and Chris had gone into a dodge roll. Behind him, Rebecca tried to fall back in surprise, but failed. Her ankle twisted and she fell over the small metal step she was standing on. The chain gun had begun to whirl when Barry rushed out and launched a grenade. It hit its target, the flames moving slowly before going out. The pilot backed up, now aware of the large man's weapon. Barry fired another round, which reached it's apex of flight just short of the machine. Rebecca tended to her ankle, while attempting to fire at the chopper. Chris had run off and now was firing.

From all around her, she heard automatic fire. Shadows began to move and noise emitted from the darkness. Starry skies went strangely dark around her, and she lent into the dusty ground. Her ankle shot pure pain up her leg. It had only been twisted; but the longer she waited, the harder it would be to walk on it. 

Rebecca said a silent prayer for Barry and Chris, as she could no longer see them. She raised her magnum at one of the moving shadows, and fired. It collapsed. Sparks began to rise around the metal steps next to her. Screaming metal combined with the now soft sound of the slightly charred helicopter rang in her ears. Someone was firing at her, apparently from her left. She turned and fired at something moving slightly in the desert darkness. She missed, but the fire had stopped momentarily. She fired three more times, and the target went down. She heard an explosion also to her left, but she ignored it. A moving image to her right, which after squinting appeared to be Chris, stopped to fire. She aided him by firing blindly toward a nameless shadow. 

Once she completely and utterly sure the coast was clear, she ducked out from behind the metal steps. She hobbled around the building, looking for Chris or Barry. Soon, she found Chris and limped up to him. Her ankle was in extreme pain, but it eased as she walked on it.

"You okay?" Chris asked breathlessly.

Rebecca gave a sharp nod and then exhaled. "Where's Barry?"

Chris started off running and Rebecca followed. Her legs felt like Jell-O as she ran. They followed the sounds of the helicopter, around some portables and towards another of the many Administration buildings. This one was much larger, but had the same yellow-green dome and windows. This new building had ledges carved out of stone, however. 

They finally found the helicopter a few yards away from Rebecca and Jill's former building. Barry was fending off the flying machine, and as they got closer, Rebecca realized he was extremely tired. They ran closer, magnums drawn. They fired at the safety glass that covered the front, and were soon shattered with large pieces of it. 

Rebecca found herself running to Chris' left, almost against her own will. She felt somewhat safe with Chris, as she had wandered around the mansion with him. They fired at the same time, and then Chris jumped in front of Barry. Barry looked thankful at the both of them, and then took a spot to Rebecca's left. They both continued firing and then Barry joined in with several Fire rounds. Soon the helicopter was on fire, and it couldn't seem to shake the vivid flames. Rebecca felt a break in the chilly air as the flames radiated some heat in her direction. 

Soon enough, the flames erupted into a brewing fire. It engulfed the front of the safety glass. The copter began to lower slightly, before an explosion shook the ground. Rebecca was knocked off her feet, while Barry was thrown forward. White-hot flames passed in front of her, causing her to wince and scramble backwards. Chris was lost on the other side.

Rebecca stood soon after, looking at the charred rubble. She ran over to it, and with gloved hands, began to pick it up and throw it.

"Chris!" she yelled. She waited in turn for a response, praying hopefully for anything. "Barry where is he?" she shouted at the older man behind her. He looked around before standing up. After a bit of waiting a pained voice shouted "Over here!". Rebecca looked in the direction and found Chris clutching his leg and wincing. The medic rushed over to him, asking him in hurried words what happened to him. "Serrated metal cut me when the thing blew" he said in the middle of a gasp in pain. 

She looked down at his bloodstained leg and tried hard not gasp at the jagged cut that ran down his leg like lightning. Blood oozed out quickly, and she knew it would need stitches. "I can't sew you up, I'm afraid. Nothing here to do it with. The best I can do is give you some morphine and try to stop to bleeding. I can probably patch you up once we get home, though." Rebecca finished in a professional voice. Chris nodded sadly. Rebecca fished in her Med-Kit three large rubber tourniquets which she tied two to his leg on either side of the wound, and one on his arm. "This will only take a second" Rebecca reminded him gently. She placed a cloth gently on top of the wound, to which Chris exhaled heavily. She tied it on, and administered the morphine. She helped him up, much like she had done Jill. He offered her a warm "Thanks" and a quick hug.

To their left was a sudden, fiery explosion. She was afraid again as she reloaded her magnum faster than she had ever done before. Barry stood tall, several dead men on the ground, on fire. "This way" he said in a cold voice. 

The three ran noiselessly through the soft dirt of the desert. Rebecca was scared, and she wanted nothing more than for this to end before they lost someone. "_Chris and Jill had already close calls and so have I" _Rebecca thought, remembering the fence and the X-ray Room. She hated being afraid. What was it that Wesker had said about fear? It gets you killed? "_What does he know, he's crazy and a traitor that almost killed me._" She couldn't repress a giggle. 

Soon after, they reached a tiny, unofficial looking building. It had no signs on it, and it was painted tan to match the dirt. It had a flat red roof, however it wasn't a portable. Rebecca figured it was about the size of an empty kitchenette.

Barry surveyed and ran inside while Chris held the door open. When Rebecca went in, it had become suddenly very full. She ran smack into Claire's shoulder. Barry's arm rested on her knee, while Chris put his hand on Claire's shoulder that was currently in Rebecca's face. "A bit small in here" Barry mused thoughtfully before giving an awkward nod to Jill. Jill, who was pressed up against Claire and what looked to be a large metal bar, turned around and slid the bar toward the wall. "_Oh, it's a lift!_" Rebecca thought, almost slapping her forehead. They all crammed into the metal lift, and Rebecca felt as if they were all going on some strange theme park ride. Jill suddenly spoke " What level?" Everyone talked in murmurs, before Barry said "Let's just go to the last one". The ex-thief slid the lab card she had received from Barry shortly before their exchange with the helicopter. Suddenly, the lift began to move downward at a slow pace. The steady humming of the lift began to make Rebecca feel sleepy. Her eyelids drooped and she wondered how long it had been since she had slept soundly. She was developing a stress headache that she couldn't shake. She was becoming steadily hungry, and the dry desert air was killing out her throat. "_Oh well, at least this is the last stop_" she thought happily. Barry began to speak slowly, which registered in Rebecca's brain. "Everyone be ready for an ambush. I think Umbrella knows we're here." 

Rebecca shook off her ultimate tiredness and raised the magnum as the lift settled at what she assumed to be Lab Level 3. Jill cautiously opened the lift door, and found nothing. "_Nothing"_ Rebecca mused. "_I can't believe no guards are down here._" She glanced at Jill's shoulder, now splattered with blood under her shirt. She had walked out first, followed by Rebecca, Claire, Barry, and Chris. Claire noticed Chris' sad limping and whispered harshly "What happened to your leg?" Chris shrugged and said "Run-in with the helicopter. Becca says I'm gonna be fine. She fixed me up." Claire smiled at Rebecca and then shot a reprimanding look at her brother. Rebecca laughed the sibling's antics, then turned to observe where she was.

It looked like a giant warehouse. It was odd, unlike all the other Umbrella Laboratories she had "visited" Instead of the normal bright white flooring, there was tan tiling that lined the room. Stacks of shelves and several forklifts lined the area. Green and Red Barrels of unknown substances littered the floor, all bearing the Biohazard sign. The forklifts were currently not being manned by anyone, man or beast. A giant skylight lined the giant underground room, but there was no light coming from it. "_Weird, these labs are weird looking._" Rebecca thought. 

"Think there's been a spill?" Jill asked with a worried glance at one of the barrels.

"Not really" Chris said scratching his head. "I think they knew we were coming."

Barry nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should look around" 

Rebecca wandered around, her shoes making strange sounds on the light brown tile. She came upon a wide area, which was lined with shelves and crates that divided it in half. The walls sloped in making doorways, which Rebecca approached with her gun raised. She arrived at the first door, which was identical to the door in front of the lift. It had a long metal bar from one side to the other, with two circular windows. She put her hand on the bar that was freezing cold. She pulled hard, and the door surrendered a solemn click. Locked. She peered in the window, and saw nothing but darkness. 

The next few doors Rebecca found were the same thing, dark and locked. When she reached then end of the make shift hallway, she heard firing coming from near the lift. She turned and raised her gun, listening hard. The gunfire was echoing off the warehouse-esque walls. She ran down the hallway and ducked down behind some barrels. 

What looked to be twenty or more men in olive pullovers and Umbrella logos were firing their automatic weapons. The bullets bounced everywhere, and Rebecca couldn't find her teammates.

From behind the barrels, she fired several times, taking most of the men by surprise. Four had fallen before she was spotted. She crawled away when bullets began to knock into some of the barrels behind her. She found another cover spot and was able to knock two more men out with ease. "_This aiming stuff is easy!_" Rebecca thought confidently. The wooden crate holders in front of her splintered under the automatic fire that drew her out of her thoughts. The crates fell over her, and she was barely able to gasp by the time she was knocked over.

"Oof!" she let out pushing crates off her. She heard groans and fire from all around her, realizing she had bought time for her hidden partners. She shoved the crates off of her while trying to keep her gun arm steady, which was not such an easy task. When she had made her way out of the crates, she was dizzy, as her equilibrium had been quite thrown off. She rose to her feet kept alert as she wandered around the dead bodies of the blood-covered guards.

"Coast is clear!" Barry yelled from behind the boxes he was hiding behind. Chris limped slightly over to some of the soldiers and grabbed one of their AK's. He reloaded it and grinned like a little boy in a candy store. Claire looked a bit frazzled when she revealed herself from behind a forklift. Jill was nowhere to be found. 

"Where's Jill?" Rebecca called to the others. They shrugged and began to call her name. Rebecca glanced at Chris, who looked deathly worried. 

Rebecca made her way back the place she had been before the conflict near the lift. Some of the crate holders and shelves were now on the ground, and on closer inspection, Rebecca heard a feminine groan. 

"Jill!" Rebecca said, digging viciously through the wood. Her hands attracted splinters like mad, and the wood hurt the ends of her fingers. "_Oh great, more pain_. _That's the last thing I need_." Finally she found Jill under the heap, blood on the floor. "Jill…your arm.." Rebecca muttered. The blood had obviously soaked through her shirt. It had ripped from the sharp wood, and blood now dripped steadily. "I found her!" Rebecca yelled. 

Seconds went by before the other team members showed up. Claire clasped her hand around her mouth. "Is she okay?"

Rebecca nodded. "I think I know what I can do.

Barry and Chris sighed. "Get a lock pick from her pocket and we'll go while you patch her up." Rebecca fished one of Jill's lock picks from her pocket and handed it to Barry. "Good luck" Rebecca wished. She watched as the three remaining members of her team ran down towards the lift. 

Rebecca began by feeling Jill's pulse. It was a steady count, and the medic felt much better. Jill probably had fainted from the pain. Her shoulder was bathed in a red glow, and slightly below the tendon was a small hole. She felt for an exit wound and grimaced when she found it. This was her favorite part of going on missions. When someone depended on her. The medical cloth she had placed on once before was now soaked to the brim with blood. She remembered seeing a drinking fountain when she first came in. She ran over to it, and ran a rag she had brought previously under it. The water was icy, which was nice in case Jill had a fever. 

She re-clothed the wound and exit wound, and tied a few tourniquets on. She was able to administer the morphine again, and she took the cool water soaked rag on put it on Jill's head. It hung over her brow, and Rebecca used the beret Jill had given her to keep it in place. Jill started to come around a few minutes later. 

"So, you're awake" Rebecca said, grinning. Jill bolted up and then let out a small scream from the pain in her arm. "Don't worry, you're gonna be fine. We're waiting for Barry and Chris and Claire to find the system." 

"I was only gonna sleep for a little while. The boxes fell on me when I tried to get on top of one. It sort of aggravated the pain in my shoulder. I feel so tired." Jill said with a groan. Rebecca mouthed "Join the club".

"Oh, you got your beret back!" Rebecca said. Jill smiled lightly, before nodding off. "Ohh, Wait a minute Jill." Rebecca said. She wanted the company, but there were a few things she needed to do.

She fished in her Med-Kit for a flashlight until she found it. She raised the older woman's head and lifted her eyes open and shoved the flashlight in them. "Jill, answer these questions truthfully. It's gonna be a lot easier if you do." Jill nodded and yawned. "Did you hit your head in any way?" 

Jill shook her head. "Do you know your name?" Jill nodded. "Jill Valentine". "Where does it hurt?" The brown haired woman grimaced at the stupid question. "My shoulder" Rebecca nodded happily. "Lastly, has the pain relieved a little since the morphine was administered?" Jill nodded. Rebecca felt overjoyed. Jill would be fine most likely. 

Suddenly, a blaring alarm went off and the two were bathed in red light. "Hello. The self-destruct sequence has been activated. Please exit the premises immediately. T minus one minute." Rebecca felt her heart skip a beat. "Jill wake up" Rebecca commanded. She grabbed Jill's arm and lifted her slightly. Rebecca knew they had found it. Mission Complete. Hurriedly, she tried to lift Jill again. "T minus forty five seconds." The ex-thief worked a bit more at standing this time, but the several doses of morphine she had received probably was making her dizzy. 

Chris reached them first, his limp almost gone. "Is she okay?" Rebecca nodded

"I don't think she can walk." She said plainly. Chris lifted her and put her legs on his arms. "T minus thirty seconds". He began to carry her piggyback. Rebecca sighed and gathered her Med-Kit, as Barry and Claire passed her. 

The trip up the lift was wonderful, Rebecca felt like they were already free. "T minus twenty five seconds". It gave off the same hum as they traveled up. When they got off the lift, Chris and Jill got off first, followed closely by Claire and Barry. "T minus twenty seconds". Rebecca was slightly farther behind. She ran after them, legs aching. She felt like she had run three marathons steadily. She screamed as an unknown figure grabbed her arm, knocking her magnum away. Her held something to her throat. A stainless steel letter opener lay pointed at the clef of her neck. Barry had heard her muffled scream and turned to face her attacker. "Put her down" Barry commanded pointing the launcher at the man. The man chuckled rudely. "You fire that and we both die" he said with a snarl. Rebecca recognized the voice. None other than James Carrie, the pale faced, white haired executive had been waiting for them. "T minus fifteen seconds". "Barry, go! I'll be okay!" Rebecca said, pushing back tears. 

Carrie held Rebecca has they wandered onto the lift. "Rebecca!" Barry screamed as he watched the lift lower. She knew that would be the last time she saw him.

Her captor tightened the grip around her neck as they got off at an unknown floor. It looked much smaller, but Rebecca couldn't see much as the white collar tightened his grip more. She stuck her hand into her Med-Kit when he wasn't looking, and grabbed a syringe. She noted they were in a lounge of some kind. "T minus ten seconds." 

"You caused us to lose much valuable work, you bitch" he screamed at her. 'I won't let you live for this!" She took advantage of the moment and jabbed the syringe into his arm. He screamed and dropped the letter opener. She picked it up and as he rushed at her, and she felt the point drive into his skin, past his rib cage. He fell on top of her, blood pouring onto her shirt and skin. "_Looks like this is it. I'm gonna die here because I didn't tie up a hostage well enough._" She began to cry.

"T minus 3, 2, 1." The voice stopped, and then she heard an explosion. It came from below her at first, then rose. She felt a rumble under her as the floor started to break. She ran toward the lift after pushing Carrie's lifeless body off her. She left a trail of blood, and when she reached the lift, the ceiling came down. She screamed as she felt everything melt around her grasp. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, the lift, all became one. Immeasurable heat leaked into the room. Soon everything went into total blackness. Rebecca felt utterly numb. She was alive? Things went black as the rumbling stopped.

__

Looong A/N

Hi everyone, this chapter was a little later than I wanted. I'm recovering from appendicitis so I'm a little blah lately. Oh well. For all those who are wondering, Billy is going to show up in the next chapter (yay!). I just wanted to establish sort of a background. With cliffhangers. I don't know who started this, but I decided to do Reviewer Shot outs because I just heart all of you. SO thank you whoever made it up

Spider-bear – Thanks, I like the action! And I'm scared of the sauce..

Idiotbx3 – /ramble Yeah, if you just started playing, you might find some spoilers, so sorry bout that. It's just hard to have two people who encountered the same thing and not have them talk about it. /end ramble

goth w/morals – Yeah, I love the action. I knew Rebecca and Jill would probably make a good team! Glad someone noticed. Billy IS coming, I swear!

Mina Aino1 – Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks! You're too kind. Yep, this is part Romance too, so of course emotions are gonna fly. 

isflamma – I haven't played RE0 in forever so, yeah the train sequence was kinda hard. Leon and Carlos, well, I left them out to make it more realistic. I dunno why.

Hello Captain – Thanks, Cocoa = good. The flashbacks were major fun, I enjoyed writing them.

Thanks for reading. Read and Review as always!


	5. Chapter 5

Resident Evil 0-2

By Artemis of the Moon

          The next few days went in and out as ribbons of consciousness for Rebecca. She didn't remember being awake or asleep, nor did she remember anything that had happened to her. The heat of the sun beamed down on her one opened eye, causing her to squint slightly. Her other eye was being blocked by something not visible to her, and it aggravated her. She felt paralyzed. She couldn't move, and breathing had become quite a hassle. She tried in vain to move her arm, which was being blocked by something heavy and thin. Her forearm rubbed against it, causing it to sourly redden. A small groan escaped her dry lips.

          "_What happened to me? I know I can't be dead and…I know this isn't where I'm supposed to be." _Rebecca thought idly. "_I know I can't get up from where I am and.. If no one finds me ..I'll.." _Rebecca closed her mind off and began to move, this time more frantically. Her limbs brushed against her concrete prison, which jiggled from on top of her. The feeling of thirst was ever present as she felt the entirely dry area of her throat with her sickening tongue. Another groan escaped her lips.

          Something was poking into her back, almost stabbing. The pain was bad, and moving made it excruciating. One of her hands was in a grabbing position. It had remained that way for some time now, and had lain splayed out, as if Rebecca had forgotten to move it in some time. She moved it slowly, first moving her fingertips down to her palm, and then rolling her knuckles. The tired joints cried when moved, but then became normal again. Rebecca wished she could view her hand, but her head was pinned down at the neck. A piece of gray matter lay in front of her, and she guessed it was concrete. It wasn't lying on top of her, it was lying gently against her neck. Rebecca was puzzled, and managed to move her tired eyes to the left. Her initial feeling of tired muscles was now gone, but was replaced by a different type of drowsiness. Sweat beads lined her forehead, and what little wind she got cooled her down greatly. To her left was a large concrete slab, tilted upright. It seemed to be supporting the rest of the slabs that surrounded. Rebecca immediately knew this slab had saved what was left of her life.

          The area of her stomach had been covered in a wet substance, which was now dried. Suddenly, memory flooded back into the young medic's drowsy mind. "_The labs, Carrie, the team. So that's how I ended up here. I hope they're all safe and not worrying about me. Wait, of course they're worrying about me. I'm dying! I'm so hungry.. I can't believe I'm going to die pinned under rubble. At least I'm not a zombie, though. And I completed my objectives. I don't want to die..I never asked for any of this. None of us did, I guess. Maybe they'll come looking for me?_" Rebecca gasped as one thousand questions flooded her mind. 

          Rebecca brushed the dried blood off of her with several thrusting motions against the slab in front of her. She gazed out into the tranquil blue sky with her one present eye and breathed out a sigh. The beating desert sun made her so hot, and she couldn't move out of the way. She felt imminent sunburns coming on, and tried to turn her head ever so slightly. Some areas of her body tingled with numb blockage of blood, which she tried to shake off. She couldn't banish the truth; she was definitely going to die an uncomfortable death. 

          "_What a way to go. Maybe I'm getting off easy, unlike the others. Come on, need to move a little faster.."_ She thought between shakes of her immobile body. She then decided it might work to scream for help. On her first attempt, her unused vocal chords strained and let out a gurgled message. Her second attempt was a bit better, this time coming out a screeching plea. Her last attempt was perfect. A voice barely recognizable as her own echoed from beneath the pile of cement. She screamed and hollered until her voice became sore. Rebecca gave up tired and alone. 

          She gave into ultimate drowsiness accompanied by nausea. Her eyelids drooped and finally closed, leaving her in a deep sleep. She slept for hours.

          A rumble from above her woke Rebecca up. Muffled voices disturbed her dreamless slumber, and disturbed her. She pondered whether or not to scream at them, and then decided that whoever they were, they might be able to help. She listened but could not make out words. More rumbling caused her eyes to open up wide, as she could tell someone was searching for something. Something important. She took a deep breath and began to scream out. "Help! I'm under here!" she managed out. Nothing. "Help me, I'm trapped under the rubble!" There was a long silence, and Rebecca almost started to cry. They were either ignoring her or they couldn't hear her. 

"Where are you?" asked a voice, which caught Rebecca by surprise. "_What a stupid question_" she thought rudely, but instead shouted. "I'm here, under the rubble!"

          They played a strange game of Marco Polo, with Rebecca shouting and her rescuers following her voice. She waited a while until a blurry vision passed by her eye. 

          A tall man with a white lab coat passed in front of her. He had bushy brown hair that covered his head, and tiny glasses that were pushed forward onto his nose. He had a strange Hawaiian shirt on under his coat, which gave Rebecca clue about his personality.

          "Over here boys, we got a live one." The man bellowed. "It's okay sweetheart, we'll have you out of there in a few seconds. Hold on". 

          Rebecca nodded and then felt her head fall weekly onto concrete. She was tired again. The man now blocked the sun, and she used the shade to try to sleep. Rebecca was no longer afraid of death, and whatever her rescuers would do to her, she was happy.

          She was woken yet again by a strange rumbling. Her eyes opened groggily as she felt small amounts of weight lifted on her. She could hear distant voices talking and shouting, and it was forcing her to stay awake. The pressure off of her arms was soon taken off, and she began to move them freely. It felt good to move without restraint; something she had not felt in what felt like centuries. 

           The blockade covering her chest was soon removed, and it caused light to leak in her open eyes. She quickly shielded her eyes with her now free arms, and glanced down to watch different men moving the brick of cement that had strangely bent around her ankles. 

          "She's bleeding" announced a feminine voice from somewhere. 

          "I don't know if that's hers or not" came the unsettling reply.

Rebecca remembered what had happened with her and all them men she'd killed. She banished the thought and attempted to return to sleep. The large heap of rubble she was lying on had lost its once wonderful comfort, and was turning into a twisted bed of spikes.

          "You feel alright, hon? No evident pain in your back or neck? Think you can walk briefly?" came the familiar voice of the Hawaiian shirt doctor. Rebecca nodded briefly before shutting her eyes again. "No, no. Help me get her to her feet." The man beckoned to a man next to him. The two managed to lift Rebecca to her feet, and then moved away slowly from her. She stood tall, before collapsing onto the dirt and concrete mess. "Ungh! Let's get her over to Cheri and the truck." The man said, picking Rebecca up and haphazardly dragging her along the mess. "I-I just want to sl-sleep for awhile." Rebecca groaned as the man lifted her onto an extended platform. She managed to stay awake as the man probed her eyes with a flashlight. He then checked her ears and mouth, before returning to an erect position. 

          "Girl," he began rudely "I'm Dr. Harrison and this is Cheri Miller, my assistant. You've been in an accident and we're going try our best to get you back to your family. Cheri's going to ask you a few questions and I'm going to need you to answer them fully, alright?" the man known as Dr. Harrison said, finishing.

          She nodded slowly at him, and made a conscious effort to stay awake. Dr. Harrison turned to leave, and the woman known as Cheri began to speak. "_Why can't they leave me alone for awhile? I just want to sleep for a little while_" Rebecca thought.

          Cheri was a cute girl, probably about Rebecca's age. She had blue eyes and what seemed to be a long nose. She had faded red hair that clung to the sides of her face as she talked. Rebecca droned out most of her talk as her head began to bob. She noted the question at the end of Cheri's long lecture. "Name?"

          Rebecca sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. Dirt was on her face, and it rubbed off onto her hands. "R-Rebecca." She didn't see any point in omitting her name from her rescuers, since they had saved her and all. "You know who you are and what happened to you?" Cheri asked, kind eyes searching Rebecca's tired one's. 

          "Yes, I know exactly what happened." Rebecca managed out, this time without stuttering. She put her hands down to her waist and noted her Med-Kit. It was intact. 

          Cheri obviously noted this too, because she eyed Rebecca accusingly. "What's that?"

          Rebecca caught a lump in her throat. "It's..nothing, really. I heard the alarms and decided to come up to see if anyone was hurt with this kit." Cheri nodded. "And what position do you occupy?" Rebecca thought on her feet. "I'm a lab technician." She thought Cheri had bought the story, but she wasn't all too sure. 

          "Why are you wearing such dark clothing? That's not standard technician wear?" Cheri half stated. 

          "N-no, it's my d-day off. I just decided to come in this." Rebecca said ending with a feint-tired nod. Cheri looked her up and down, before shuffling off toward Dr. Harrison. 

          Two men grabbed Rebecca's arms and lifted her a few feet to a gurney behind her. The small sting of an intervenes needle in her arm provided a quick rush of adrenaline. They hooked her to a cardio monitor, and the slow, annoying beeps rang in Rebecca's ear. The medics to her left and right would talk to each other and sometimes to her, but she paid them no real attention. She took in the wonderful environment around her.

          The ambulance-esque truck held all the medical supplies of a normal emergency response vehicle. The steel gray walls were a nice change of scenery from the pale gray concrete and twisted copper wiring. The white bed sheets of the gurney were soft, and she cuddled into them, happy they were not rocks or dirt. The pillow was heavenly as it shaped around her dirt stained face. She rested her eyes, taking in the new scene. 

          Moments later, Rebecca realized they were going to take her away. She was grateful. Dr. Harrison and Cheri came to shut the doors of the ambulance, and she listened to their voices.

          "So, you think she is?" came the soft, feminine voice of Cheri.

"I'm positive. Her story doesn't exactly check out by normal terms." Came the more boisterous voice of the doctor.

"What are we going to do with her?" 

"She's not in our hands anymore. Honestly, Umbrella doesn't want to tolerate these rebels and neither do I. Let's see.. Vargas seems to want new tenants, but I almost feel bad leaving the poor girl with that nutcase. Yeah. Take her to Zion."

          Rebecca heard most of this, but the drugs she had been given through the IV were beginning to take effect. She relaxed; sure everything was going to be all right. She felt the Valium run its course and shut her eyes, and soon after, began to snore.       

          The South African sky was intense with heat. Bright bands of beautiful red, orange and yellow hung off the edge of the clouds. The dusty earth was speckled with different animals, all on their normal routines. High above them, however was a larger animal. They heard it and scurried away, hiding until the beast went away. 

          The metal lined "beast" was a plane. A painted on Umbrella insignia on the back and sides warned those around it. The propellers flashed at an intense speed, and the noise could be mistaken for a large gargle. It dipped and bowed toward an unknown location. 

          On board, Rebecca awoke. She stretched and opened her eyes, but only found darkness. She felt her face and found a long, black cloth covering her face and most of her neck. Panic overwhelmed her as she tried to stand. Chains wrapped around her legs, causing her to obtain another awkward sitting position. Her gun arm reached around to find her holsters gone. 

          "_This really isn't good…By the sound on the outside, I'm sure I'm in a plane…and everything is gone…and I'm pretty sure I'm in Umbrella's "care" now._" She stopped in mid-thought. "_Why…? Am I going to end up an experiment? Some scientist's wicked little pet? Or something worse?_" Fear was an understatement. The plane hit some turbulence and Rebecca found her self in mid-air for a moment. She felt her head hit the floor and she was sent sprawling forward.

          "Ow…" she muttered from under the deathly black curtain. She heard a strange mechanical noise, and then the familiar sensation of a landing plane. She waited a moment before bringing up a free hand to take the cover off. The job had almost been a success until a gruff voice barked out "I wouldn't do that if I were you…".

          A crushing pain ran through her arm as something ran mercilessly into it. Rebecca guessed either a rifle butt, or something of the like. She grasped her hand and yelped in surprise and pain. "Busted…" she moaned sadly. Moments passed, and the young girls nose was jammed into the steel grating of the craft. After a bare minute had passed, she felt two strong hands lift her limp form off the ground. Her body was lifted from its sprawled horizontal position, up to a vertical standing position. The hands moved and uncovered the hood-like cloth covering Rebecca's head. She looked up to her attacker, who was smiling ominously. He had combed over, greasy blonde hair. He wore a black coat that covered most of his body. By Rebecca's count he was about 6 feet tall or so. His squinting blue eyes flared at her behind folds of skin. 

          "Do what I tell you, and you'll live through the night, bitch." He growled rudely. She muttered "Yeah, fine" under her breath. The man grabbed his rifle that was hanging under his coat from a belt and hit Rebecca hard on the shoulder.

          She winced in pain but then regained an icy composure, attempting to starethe large man down. He grabbed her wrists and undid her leg chains, setting her free only for a brief moment. He then shoved his rifle into her back and led her out of the plane. 

          The first thing she noticed was the extreme weather. Rays of pure sunlight washed onto her, covering her in heat. Waves of green surrounded her as trees and creepers. The dirt was fairly soft from all the moisture in the air. In front of her was a large flat stone, which took the shape of a square. Past it, Rebecca could see a large field with the same type of stone structures. The man dragged her closer and closer to the large stone block, and the last thing she could see before disappearing inside of it was what looked to be a large castle in the distance, sitting on a hill. 

          The block was actually an awning for a staircase, which led down to a stone corridor. Rebecca got nervous, but she recalled what the man said about "living through the night". She didn't really want to disobey him anymore. At the end of the dim corridor, Rebecca Chambers saw something that terrified her.  

          Metal bars protruded from the gray prisms of stone at an angle. A door was weakly put onto the bars, and it was pushed slightly forward. It had a small rectangle window with glass that could obviously be pushed in and out. Inside the makeshift cell was an ugly fray-sheeted fold out bed, a stool, and a metal toilet that came from the wall. Rebecca shivered.

          "So, you're going to put me in there?" Rebecca asked, trying not to let the fear of confinement seep into her voice.

          The man smiled, before replying harshly. "We have MORE in store for you, bitch." 

          Rebecca was getting used to her new nickname. "_What does he mean MORE?_" 

          She watched as he pulled the stool to the middle of the floor. He pulled some metal handcuffs out of his trench coat, and attached them to a long, metal chain hanging from the yellow-stoned ceiling Rebecca had not seen before. He kicked her swiftly on to the stool and cuffed her tightly.

          Rebecca looked down to find her feet planted firmly on the small wooden stool. High above her head, her arms dangled from being attached to the metal cuffs. They began to dig and rub into her wrists. Totally immobile, Rebecca gulped lightly. The man gave her a quick smile, before it turned to a frown and his rifle butt connected with her stomach. 

          She gasped for air, and attempted to keep her balance on the stool. The young girl knew if she fell, she metal cuffs would dig into her arm and draw blood. The man turned and began to leave, the words on the back of his coat now visible. They read "Destroyer" in large, white letters. Before leaving, he turned his huge head toward Rebecca and said "The President will be down to meet you shortly." 

          Rebecca lost her self in thought. "_Okay, let's see what I know. I know I almost died in Umbrella Building wreckage, but was saved. Those people were Umbrella, or influenced by them, because I ended up on an Umbrella plane. Now I'm locked in an Umbrella jail, and I'm probably going to die. How many times have I said that in the past few days? At least I've kept my sense of humor._" Rebecca smiled for a moment before letting loose a small tear and a whimper. 

          Minutes passed like hours for the cell. She was trapped, and there was no way of getting loose. After minutes of silence, Rebecca's ears pricked up when she heard the sound of footsteps on stone. "Destroyer" was back; his normal stomping was easy to figure out. Lighter footsteps were in front him, and a strange whishing noise behind it.

          When Rebecca first saw the woman, she was shocked. Long flowing black braids dangled behind her, clicking as the beads jangled behind her. She wore black lipstick, which made her pale face glow. Her body was wrapped loosely in a lengthy black robe, nothing exposed but face and the top of her breasts. Her long fingers were painted black. One of her fingers dragged along the stone as she walked. The mysterious woman gave Rebecca a brisk look up and down before clicking her tongue.

          "Tch. A bit thin, isn't she? What harm could this little girl do?"

          "The Colonel says she was part of the group that blew up the desert base."

          "Ahhh, the rebel S.T.A.R.S I've been hearing so much about? Ahhh…I'd love to make her scream.

          Rebecca screwed up her face. "_Make me scream? Is this woman crazy?_"

          "Screaming little girl…" the woman said in a sing-song tone. "Ahhh, how I love the idea"

          "Anything you want, Madame." Destroyer said, before getting on one knee and kissing her hand.

          "Do what you want to me, you can't stop the snowball effect." Rebecca announced.

          "Speak only when you're spoken to!" Destroyer bellowed, reaching for his rifle.

          "Wait, my love. The girl has bravado. I like that. It's so much easier to grind her bones when they have courage. Don't you agree? I doubt we've been properly introduced. I'm Lulu Vargas, President of the Zion branch of Umbrella."

          Zion Branch? Rebecca maintained her glare at the woman, her normally kind blue eyes now bursting with hatred. 

          "I can hear her screaming already. My angels want her blood; they cry out to me…I must feed them. All goes well with them. They haven't had human flesh in so long. They hunger for it, they'd do anything…She's screaming, screaming!" Lulu's dark eyes shifted to the roof of the cell as she dreamed. She licked her black lips thoroughly, before returning her eyes to Rebecca. 

          "Wouldn't you like that, love?"

          "You're crazy! I don't know what the hell you're talking about! I'm not going to scream, so do your worst you crazy _witch_!" Rebecca spat out, entirely not planning to. 

          Destroyer let out a shout of rage, and brought his rifle out to point at Rebecca. Lulu, however, was faster. She raised a black nailed hand, and slapped Rebecca through the bars. 

          The medic leapt back in pain, almost knocking the stool over. The stinging pain rushed through her cheek, and she felt wet drip off her chin. A familiar red substance dripped on her pants. It blended in with the other bloodstains. Without use of her hands, Rebecca couldn't wipe away the blood, so it rained down her cheek in swift torrents. Lulu looked angry. 

          "Don't speak to me like that, girl" she growled. "You're sentenced to death. You have until tomorrow morning before they come for you. I personally would love to see you suffer. I'll attend your execution." She smiled happily, and then turned to her blonde partner. "Do you think that's a suitable punishment?"

          He nodded, then announced heartily "I want to kill her myself, my Queen."

          Lulu shook her head, and then sent a glare at Rebecca. "I want to see my angels rip her limb from limb, devouring her internal organs and picking their teeth with her tiny bones." Her glare softened. "Any last requests, love?"

          Rebecca almost screamed, "Don't call me love! And my last request is for you both to leave!" Lulu complied, and Destroyer followed without a word. Their familiar footsteps disappeared down the shallow hallway. 

          More tears flooded out of Rebecca's eyes, mixing with her blood and landing on her pants. Her cheek stung and her stomach ached dully, not to mention her other ached and pains. Despite her troubles, she still hoped the others wouldn't come looking for her. Tears stained her face as she began to doze. 

          Rebecca woke up to the sound of an explosion. It was far off, and definitely outside the corridor. She couldn't tell what it was, but she knew it had nothing to do with her. Lulu didn't seem like the type to blow people up, not without watching anyway. "_Feed me to her angels? That means she's going to feed me to some Zombies or something. Maybe one of her bigger projects like a Virus induced rabbit or something. God, after all that work I've done to survive the monstrosities, it comes back to haunt me. Why me..? Why not Wesker? Why do bad things happen to good people?_" Unsatisfied with the lack of answer to her questions, Rebecca began to cry again. Another explosion crashed like thunder in the distance. She perked to hear this as it was definitely interesting. Another, and another followed shortly behind it. More noise began to flood into the corridor. The familiar sound of voices and running filled her head.

          "_Interesting way to start an execution_" Rebecca mused, and began to listen harder. Suddenly, she heard footsteps descend the stairs. The shock caused her to move around slightly, and the wooden stool gave in. Pain rushed through her hands her legs as her shoes dangled above the dirt. Blood gushed down her wrists, dropping with silent plops onto the dirt. The footsteps moved faster and faster, and with them the pain began to worsen, leaving Rebecca wincing. "Shit!" she yelled, praying the person running to her was a friend.

          "_What if it's not?_" she wondered. "_No time to think about that now, this is uncomfortable!"_ Pain overtook Rebecca, and she imagined the skin around her wrist disappearing, leaving nothing but arteries and blood. The figure finally reached the cell. It was wearing white and black camouflage pants and what looked to be a gas mask helmet. A green vest extended across its waist. In one fluid motion, the figure stripped off its helmet, leaving long, slicked back hair in a familiar position. Rebecca was shocked.  

_A/n: Hope you liked this chapter, I didn't lie to you! Sorry for not updating sooner, things have just been busy and the lack of reviews never help. Oh well, a sort of cliffhanger this time, and I'll start working on the next chapter tomorrow. Read and Review!  _ 

                   


	6. Chapter 6

            Rebecca looked at the familiar face in front of her. The name left her lips as the pain left her body. "Billy…Coen?" Rebecca couldn't believe her eyes. He was like an angel, who had come to save her from all the hell she'd endured. A tear escaped her eyes as she watched him stare at her, gaping.

          "Please…tell me you're not a side effect from the drugs." She let out a small giggle as the pain from her wrist sparked again, making her cry out again.

          "Not last time I checked." the voice muttered, rubbing the back of his head. He pulled out a lock pick and set to work on the door, not taking his eyes off of Rebecca.

          She shook her head, light brown bangs falling in her face. "I think I pissed someone off." She said, and Billy chuckled. It took ages for the door to finally give up the ghost, and the click of a deadbolt was echoed through the stone building. Rebecca could feel the trickles of blood seeping down her arm, landing with steady plops into the dirt. Billy rushed, lifting her up from the calves, and gently setting her back onto the stool.

          Rebecca's pain was suddenly almost gone, with an exception of the handcuffs falling out of where they had dug deeply into her skin. She gave a sigh of relief as Billy also stood on the stool, and began to work on the lock of her cuffs. He pulled her a bit closer to him, and Rebecca pursed her lips, gazing up at the handcuffs. He effortlessly picked the lock, and the handcuffs fell to the ground after bouncing off the stool. Billy lifted Rebecca off the stool, and helped her out of her "cage". The only thing Rebecca thought was that it was wonderful to be held in strong arms again.

          Billy set Rebecca against a wall and handed her a first aid kit. He nodded to her and she knew what to do. She grabbed some antiseptic and began to work on her cuts. Billy turned to the men that had come down with him, and began to speak slowly.

          "Alright, guys. Looks like our job is done here. Jackson, did you plant the bomb in the labs?" Billy asked, a serious look on his face.

          Jackson nodded. "Okay then, we've done enough damage here. Let's get back to the jeep and we'll keep the spill from increasing. Everyone got it?" Several nods "Good, let's go then. By the way, this is Rebecca Chambers from Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S, she's a pretty good marksman, and a damn good medic."

          A few of them men chuckled. "Looks like Coen's got a girlfriend." One of the men said heartily. 

Rebecca giggled, after separating some gauze with her teeth. She groaned when she saw she looked like a mummy, but the bleeding had stopped, and the antiseptic would spread further infection.

"That's one more than you'll ever have, Boris." Billy replied, grinning. Rebecca watched as he pulled out a radio and began to speak into it. She was in awe. "_So Billy has his own rebel group, does he? Well, it's so great to see him again. It was like I was empty inside while he was gone. But…why am I feeling this?_" Rebecca thought, confused. She decided to bury the feelings until they were safe.

Rebecca stood and ran up to Billy. In a move that surprised both of them, Rebecca wrapped her arms around Billy. It felt great to both of them and then she spoke up. She gave a quiet "Thank you". They broke apart, and she looked around for her Med-Kit.

As the group walked out, someone tapped her on the back. Billy had wandered off into the thick brush and was still talking on his radio. Rebecca whirled around and noticed the men Billy called Jackson and Boris. Another man stood behind them, cleaning his gun.

"So you're the infamous Rebecca Chambers we've heard so much about. " Boris said, extending a hand.

Rebecca took it. "Depends, I hope Billy has only told you good things." She paused. "And there really isn't anything between us. I mean, he saved my life a couple times, and I disobeyed orders and kept him hidden. We haven't seen each other in a while."

Jackson snorted. "We didn't really mean it. I don't think you're his type anyway. He did say you're the reason he decided to organize our little group here, though."

"Did he?" Rebecca asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup." The last man replied, finally joining the conversation.

"He said he decided to organize us after you set him free. That and after he realized what happened to those people on the train and the facility. Something about being noble and bullshit. We knew you had to be a girl, because nothing else would drive Coen so damn crazy." Jackson said. Boris gave a hearty laugh and slapped Rebecca on the back.

"I said there wasn't anything between us! Jesus…" Rebecca said. "_Why am I trying to deny it so much?_" Rebecca wondered. "So what do you guys do?"

"Well, pretty much the same thing you do. We pop the Umbrella suckers like zits before they get to hurt anyone, and we feel better about ourselves when we go to sleep at night. It's pretty damn easy work too. These tin soldiers don't really don't compare to the Marines."

Rebecca came to a realization. "Oh, so after Billy became an ex-lieutenant, you guys quit the Special Forces, too?" Rebecca asked, trying to figure out the details.

"Yeah, me 'n Jackson did. Stan was court marshaled about a year or so before" Boris replied. Stan gave hollow grunt before walking towards the new destruction Rebecca had not noticed. Boris leaned into Rebecca.

"Stan doesn't like to talk about it, it's a bit of a touchy subject for him."

Rebecca nodded, now gaping at the amount of fire in the area. Dead bodies littered the sand, and portables were burning blue flames. The only location that seemed untouched by the flames was the dark castle, presumably owned by Lulu  "_Oooh, I hope that got her. I'm not usually a vengeful person, but that lady was evil_" Rebecca thought, massaging her sore cheek. Explosions would occasionally set off and shake the area with their vibrations, and making Rebecca bit jumpy. With no weapon, she was vulnerable.

Boris ruffled her hair. "Don't worry about it, we didn't see any survivors anywhere. The bombs in the labs will go off and kill all the creatures. You're safe with us, Rebecca." She smiled at his kindness. He really was a nice man. "Hey, I wanna show you something."

Boris pulled out a gun with a painted picture of a beautiful woman on it, he spun it around and handed it to her. She examined it, spinning it around and looking at it from every angle. "The girl is my wife, Delilah. We've been together for twenty years now, and she hasn't aged a day. It's really that kind of relationship couples dream they could have after that long, ya know? We have a daughter, and she's sixteen. I can't wait to get home and see them."

"I bet." Rebecca agreed. She thought back to when she was sixteen. She had been taking both high school and university classes. She was finishing out the last of her high school credits that year, and missed her Senior Prom because she had to take night classes. She let out a hollow sigh and lifted a hand to her face to brush some of the caked dirt off. "You guys sound like dream family. Well, except their father is part of a rebel group that takes out America's leading pharmaceutical company day by day." Boris laughed.

"Well, all in a day's work." He replied.

"Speaking of a day's work" Billy's voice game from behind them "It looks like ours is done. Let's head to the jeep and let the helicopter take care of the rest."

Rebecca sighed. She was ecstatic that she had found Billy again. She wondered what he thought about her, about what he felt for her. Rebecca was shaken from her thoughts as Boris began to grab at her hand. She willingly gave it to the man, and was lead into the jungle.

The jungle smelled of several different gasses and fumes Rebecca couldn't fully identify. She hadn't completely noticed the whole site smelled of destruction, mostly because her thoughts wandered to Billy. "_I can't be in love with him. He's like my big brother!_" she thought, as Boris pushed away some creepers, allowing Rebecca to pass without getting slammed in the face. The air around her was humid. A damp heat that beat down on her through the greens and reds of the jungle, causing her to sweat near the top of her brow. It hadn't occurred to her to ask the location of her once prison. "Where are we, exactly?" Rebecca asked in a puzzled tone, biting her lower lip in thought.

Stan turned around and shoved out a mumbled "We're in South America, somewhere in lower Peru." Rebecca noted he was cleaning his gun once again, this time much more fervently. "And you guys did this by yourselves? Took down this whole entire Umbrella base I mean." Jackson shook his head and chuckled.

"We prolly could! Hell, Billy all by himself could. But nah, we had another group who left off the other side of the base. We're gonna rendezvous near Lima."

Rebecca was puzzled. Lima was probably miles and miles away. "Why so far away?" Rebecca asked Jackson. Jackson gave Rebecca a smirk and then looked ahead to Billy, who was now chopping through thick grass with a short bladed knife.

"Boy, Billy, you were right. She's a smart one alright." Billy blushed slightly and began cutting more violently through the grass. Stan gave a loud snort and put his pistol away.

"Oh come on, Billy. This isn't 4th grade anymore. If you like the girl, just tell her." Stan growled. Rebecca giggled, until she received any icy glare from Stan. She immediately covered her hand with her mouth.

"Don't you be acting all pre pubescent either, girl." Stan muttered walking faster. Rebecca shut up. The five walked through the forest for ten more minutes in total silence. In the lead was Billy, slicing down any leaves that got in his way. Stan followed, grunting something about it being too humid. Jackson hummed and whistled when the silence became too much for him. Boris still had Rebecca's hand, and she blushed as his fingers moved over hers as he led her politely. She couldn't help but think Billy was acting slightly differently. She remembered him much more... How did she remember him? It had been so long, she had counted on never actually seeing him again. From the first moment she met him, he had been able to make her laugh, or greatly frustrate her. She often thought about how she had tried to arrest him. Rebecca had been so nervous, as she held her gun white-knuckled to keep from shaking. He had merely shrugged her off and left her there, wondering what she had done.

Inside herself she laughed, thinking about how he used to make jokes even at the worst times. She loved his sense of humor, probably because most times she lacked anything that resembled one. Or so she had been told. She thought back to the time when she was in to the torture chamber, alone.

Rebecca had been able to decipher the manual enough to activate the power system. She remembered revolving around after hearing something burst behind her, just to see a white streak jump straight onto her back. Pain rushed through her body as she pawed at it, feeling utterly helpless. When she had thrown it off, she realized what it actually was. A monkey, with white fur and two-inch long fangs, made a growling noise deep in it's throat as it stared at Rebecca. Slimy white saliva leaked off both fangs as it glared hungrily at her. Rebecca remembered putting two fingers to the back her neck and feeling warm liquid. Then, she saw out of the corner of her eye, the monkey leaped into the air like lightning. Her body reacted and she threw herself to the side. Her body impacted with the dusty stone, and just as she was getting to her feet, she lost her footing. Rebecca remembered wondering how the ground beneath her could give way. She watched, as her eyes became level with the solid floor and her hands found way to a steel girder, sticking out of the once together floor. She held on, her whole body dangling as her head scanned the area for the monkey. "I hate monkeys…" she moaned as she transferred all her strength to one arm as she transferred Billy a message via radio.

Rebecca remembered sweating as her fingers began to slip, her mind getting ready to accept defeat. "Sorry…Billy..." she muttered as her hands involuntarily let go of the girder. Her lungs opened to release a scream as she felt a strong, warm grip grab her arm. Billy began to pull her up, drawing her in as he pulled her up, the monkey still missing in action.

"Hey, we're here boys and girl" Billy said, Rebecca letting go of Boris' hand. The troops had found their way to a clearing; the many green plants of the area had been combed over to the left. Red plants of unknown origin sprouted around the clearing. A single jeep, decorated in gray and blue camouflage that matched Billy's pants lay close to the middle. It caused Rebecca to cast a quick thought towards Barry's jeep. Now that she was safe once again, she wondered if they would look for her. She knew they would. She hoped they wouldn't. Umbrella would have tons of security as they cleaned up. Jill had told the group about the U.B.C.S, which Rebecca assumed had probably been called in.

Rebecca wiped the sweat from her brow and sighed. The males began to shove guns into a large metal box in the jeep. The clanging metal upon metal sound caused Rebecca to cover her ears as she approached the jeep.

"Guys?" she asked, noticing a large fallen tree in the way. Chipped, diseased bark flocked from the tree and onto the ground, matching the shrubbery. She placed a hand on it. She could almost feel it pulsating underneath her bare hand. She withdrew it quickly, yelping.

Boris was the first to notice. "Ey, what's wrong?" he asked, relinquishing a combat knife into the chest, eyeing Rebecca with wild eyes.

"This tree…it's different. Almost like it's dying or something." Rebecca said, throwing a glance at the tree.

Billy walked up to it and put a hand on it, then quickly throwing his arm back. Astonished, he asked, "This wasn't here before, was it?" Boris shook his head, and Stan snorted.

"Look here" Rebecca said, pointing to the area where the base had been severed from the rest of the tree. A bubbling purple moss had arisen and licked the base of the tree with a low hum.

"Is that…normal?" Stan asked, now amused.

"No, if the tree were cut down, it would be smooth. It almost looks as if it were an acid, eating away the tree slowly, and from the inside." Rebecca mused, touching the ends of the tree.

"But I mean, what DID this?" Stan asked.

"Well, my only guess is Umbrella." Rebecca finally replied. "Someone didn't want you guys leaving. I bet I know who, also."

"Who?"

"There was this crazy lady. She was dressed in all black. She introduced herself as Lulu Vargas, head of the…Zion Branch?" Rebecca said, trying to recount the details.

Billy nodded, and with a gentle motion towards the ruins, said, "This used to be the Zion Division. According to our sources, this place had some leading research going down. That's why they were at the top of our hit list."

"Well, shit, guys. I think we need a new plan." Jackson said, scanning each of the group, Rebecca last.

"Wait, you said there was another group, heading toward Lima, right? Well, why don't we just meet up with them sooner than expected?" Rebecca suggested. She had definitely had enough of South America. She was reading to go home to her four walls and bed.

"Great idea. We might not be too far behind if we set out now, right?" Billy asked his teammates.

"Well, it might work. Not that I wanna spend anymore time hear, but it's not like it's gonna be any use, trying to get by the big fuckin' tree." Jackson said.

Stan merely nodded and got in the driver's seat. Jackson took the left passenger seat. Billy helped Rebecca in and then got in the other side. Boris hung out near the weapons trunk in the back.

The heat seemed to grow more intense, and Rebecca groaned. She vaguely remembered being cold not so long ago. The chill of the quiet desert air…

The jeep started with a quick rumble, and then began to swerve suddenly, throwing Rebecca into Billy. She grinned sheepishly at him before deciding to hold on to the slightly bent iron bar before her.

The jeep drove over the dunes with great ease, once in awhile getting air and crashing down, sand flying into Rebecca. Boris seemed to be having a great time, once in awhile standing to see exactly where they were. Stan had a cigarette in his mouth, which he puffed on happily, paying little attention to his driving. Jackson stared out the window in somewhat of a daze. Billy would glance quickly at Rebecca, then she would turn his way and he would be looking out the window. Rebecca found herself doing the exact thing.

'_Chambers, this isn't the time to be flirting. He's among colleagues. Once you get home you can have a cup of tea with him, and you can reminisce, and everyone will be happy. Just keep your mind on survival for the next few hours and…'_

          On top of Zion Castle, a black haired woman with braids stepped out on the front patio. She was barefoot, which was a surprise since there was glass shards the size of tennis balls near her black painted toes. On her shoulder was a large black bag.

          "She won't get away with this. My angels are a creation of beauty and grace."

          She unzipped the bag carefully and pulled out a large, cylindrical object. It was dark green, and probably longer than she was. Using all her strength, she heaved the cylinder onto her arm and flipped the scope outwards. She took careful aim for a moment, then after a beat, she pulled the trigger.

          "I told her I'd make her scream" Lulu Vargas said before sweeping a long robe back in behind her and slamming the door shut.

_          …everyone will be happy'_ Rebecca thought, glancing at Billy for the umpteenth time. The jeep sped along, until finally a shout broke the silence.

          "Shit! Stan, get out of the way!"

          Unsure of whom the shout came from, Rebecca peered nervously over the seat. The jeep swerved dangerously, and Rebecca felt her hit the side of the jeep, which was luckily cushioned.

          Sand poured as Rebecca felt the jeep lift and tumble through the dirt. For a moment she felt herself go upside down, nothing but gravity holding her up. Soon after she felt weightless as she felt herself fall from the jeep, and land unceremoniously onto the dirt, face first. She felt licking flames come towards her body, and she got up quickly, spitting the dirt from her mouth.

          The jeep was now wreckage. Boris lay ten feet away on his back, getting up. Billy lay three feet away, already half up. Jackson and Stan were missing.

          Flames engulfed the jeep, and Rebecca could almost smell the faint gasoline smell in the air.

          "We have to get to them!" Billy yelled at her over the noise of the flames. She nodded and quickly ran to the passenger door, while Billy ran to the driver's seat.

          "Jackson!" Rebecca yelled as she tried to prod Jackson out of the burning vehicle. It had been tilted on it's side after turning several times, so getting the man out would be a problem. The back of the jeep was totaled, leaving the weapons crate gone in a puff of smoke.

          Jackson probed for Rebecca's hand and when the two finally met, Rebecca heaved as hard as she could. When she saw the top of Jackson's red hair, she knew she was getting close.

          "Cover your eyes!" Rebecca yelled, hoping he'd get it the first time. After he did so, Rebecca lifted a foot and began to kick the outer shell of the jeep until she heard metal bend slightly. Then she resumed pulling.

          After two minutes or so, Rebecca had gotten Jackson out and Billy was able to use the same method with Stan. Billy and Stan grabbed Boris (who was still lying on the ground, apparently knocked out), and rushed away from the fire. Once the fire spread to wear the gas tank was, a small whistling sound was heard, and Billy yelled "DOWN!"

          Rebecca couldn't think. As she watched the jeep blow into a million dissolving fragments, she just stared in awe. '_Our…last chance of getting out of here!_' Strong arms wrapped around her and forced her down with incomprehensible strength as a tire blew past her head, missing it by inches. She had landed on the ground, with Billy on top of her. She stared at him for a moment, and he at her, before they began to laugh.

          "Something funny?" Stan growled as he glanced at Boris.

          "No, we're just shit out of luck!" Billy said in a tone that caused Rebecca to laugh harder, only at Stan's grimace.

          "What the FUCK was that?" Jackson asked, fear in his voice.

          "A rocket, I'm guessing. I saw it come from the castle. Maybe someone up there is still alive?" Billy asked, staring at the huge monument.

          "Ah, SHIT. The guns and ammo!" Stan cried. He ran effortlessly through the thick sand to wear the jeep had previously exploded.

          "Uh, Becky?" a voice came from behind Rebecca. "Boris…?"

          Boris. He was still on the ground, unmoving. Rebecca rushed to his side, groping for a Med-Kit that wasn't there.

          "Boris, can you hear me?" she asked, her voice faint. His eyelids began to twitch, and his hands immediately went towards his stomach. Rebecca peered down, and after lifting his shirt and gear up, noticed a large cut on his abdomen. It traveled from his naval up towards his breastbone, and it was deep.

          "Oh no…we have to treat this before it gets infected." Rebecca said, touching the wound and pressing around the area.

          "We left the first aid kits on the jeep…" Jackson said dully.

          "If we don't treat this immediately, he could die. We have to at least clean it, not to mention sew it up and stop the bleeding. What a mess."

          "That bad, eh?" Boris said, pain in his voice and aged face.

          Rebecca felt a pain in her heart. "You'll live, I know it. We just got to find a few things so you'll be okay."

          Stan came back a few minutes later, swearing up a storm. He took a combat knife out of his vest, and tossed it to the sand. "Any other weapons?" he asked the group.

          Billy pulled out a Handgun, and Jackson a knife.

          "Great, a gun with fifteen rounds and two knives. We're up Shit Creek without a paddle."

          "We could always-"

          "What, Jackson?" Radio for backup? The Radio is in pieces all over the sand now. Treat Boris' wounds? Nope, can't do that either. Drive out of here? Be my guest."

          Jackson stared at Stan, mouth agape.

          "WHAT!?"

          Jackson pointed less than a half-mile towards the ruins of a building. Hands were poking out of the rubble, as if reaching out of their graves. People in barely visible white lab coats struggled in the sand, limping. Gasping moans could be heard not so far away. Rebecca remembered them well.

          "Shit, these those "Zombies" you were talkin' about!?" Stan asked, eyes wide with intensity.

          More hands, more zombies. Over thirty together now were walking towards them, arms outstretched.

          "This way!" Billy said, coaxing them into a building all too familiar. She helped Stan and Jackson lift Boris (who was now very confused) toward her former prison. When they finally made it in, the infected were only a quarter mile from tiny building. They slammed the antique wooden doors shut with a thud.

          "Well…What now?"

           _Hope you guys liked it. It was a bit rushed because I was so anxious to crank it out. Billy seems a bit Ooc to me, tell me if that's the case (in review form). Also I'd like to hear about my OC's, Jackson, Boris, and Stan. Oh and Lulu too .. Anyway, thank you to my ever-reviewing fans who drive this story:_

_Hello Captain_

_Isflamma_

_Mina Aino1_

_Daishi MK2_

_Goth w/morals_

_Tina Bug_

_Ice _

_Rachel_

_Spider-bear_

_Idiotbx3_

_Thank you to all, I promise to answer reviews in the next chappie._

 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

            Billy grunted, as there was another pound on the door. The smell of rotting flesh was detectable in the stale air. Hungry moans could be heard on the other side of the large, ornate door. He pushed with all his might on the door, silently praying that the hinges wouldn't give in. His mind raced over about on hundred plans, each of them dead ends. He looked over at Stan, who was gritting his teeth and guarding the other door.

            He heard boots on stone and assumed this was Jackson pacing back and forth. When they had first entered the makeshift prison, Jackson had helped Rebecca take Boris to the back of the room. The older man was now covered in his own blood. He was pale, and he would wince and seize every once in awhile, according to Rebecca. She was obviously worried about him.

            "What's…our…plan…?" Stan asked, between knocks on the door. The infected were now trying harder than ever to get in the door, and Billy put more of his weight into it.

            There was an awkward silence between the group. Jackson spoke first, after letting himself fall to the ground.    

            "We need to prioritize." He paused, and Billy turned his head to see the red haired man, He was pale, and his green eyes were buried in his hands.

            "Let's see…we need to treat Boris' wounds…and we definitely need weapons. We're also gonna have to find a way to communicate with Lex's group and let them know we're stuck." Jackson said, looking up. His voice was calm, but Billy detected a panic deep within him.

            Billy couldn't help but feel this was all his fault. He had led the group into Zion…but now they were stuck. It was true they all had agreed to the plan, but he was the leader…he should have been in control.

            "_Let's stay positive, Coen. You've been in worse spots then this, and you'll get out. Just gotta stay focused on the plan._" He thought, but was interrupted by another heavy push on the door. It creaked, and everyone (minus Boris) held his or her breath, praying that the door wouldn't give in.

            "How are we supposed to do that, exactly? We're stuck in this room, meanwhile zombies are trying to eat us or whatever the hell they do. We're screwed, why can't you seem to get that?" Stan yelled, surprising both Jackson and Billy.

            "The zombies…they'll give up." Rebecca muttered. Billy assumed she was still looking at Boris by the tone of her voice.                                                                                       "What do you mean, they'll give up? They haven't yet, have they?" Stan muttered angrily. He turned his head to glare at Rebecca.

            "Stan, just calm down, man-" Billy started, not wanting to see the group begin to fight with each other. "_If we're gonna get out of here, we need to stick together. If we start fighting, we're definitely screwed._" Billy thought.

            "It's okay, Billy. I've been around the infected a lot, and I know that if they will forget after a while. I remember when I was in the mansion, I was able to lock myself in a room and for awhile, they pounded on it non stop, then they gave up for awhile." Rebecca said, almost happily.

            "That doesn't mean they won't be waiting for us as soon as we get out there, and with two knives and a gun with no extra ammo we're not going to be able to hold them off." Stan said, obviously temporarily forgetting about his anger.

            "One thing about them is that they aren't very smart. They are easy to sneak by if you know how to do it. They're also pretty slow, so we can probably run past them." Billy said, remembering some of his experiences from the forest and train.

            The silence fell upon them again, each trying to think up a plan. After about ten minutes, the banging finally stopped. Stan gave a sigh of relief, and slowly moved his hands from the door. Billy slumped in front the door, and let his hands and arms relax.

He then got a decent look of everyone in the room.

            Boris looked worse then ever. His breathing was somewhat relaxed when they had brought him in, but now it was harsh, almost as if he was clinging to life. His hands and caked blood on them, his eyes were closed. Blood had begun to drip onto the stone floor, leaving a small pool of blood surrounding his body. If Billy didn't know better, he would say Boris was probably already dead…

            Rebecca sat, short brown hair cascading into her blue eyes. Her brows were furrowed in frustration as she stared at Boris. The two had obviously hit off since they met, but it was probably because Boris was just that kind of person. He was almost always cheerful and happy, and he loved his family dearly. "_Hang in there, buddy. We'll figure this out._" Billy vowed, looking from Boris to Rebecca.

            She looked as if she was about to cry, her eyes were glassy. Billy knew she felt helpless. He looked to Jackson, who was also looking at Boris, but his thoughts were clearly somewhere else. He looked scared, among other things.

            Stan had decided to take Jackson's place in pacing. Although Stan was usually quick to anger, he was a competent fighter and soldier, Billy knew from experience.

            Billy thanked God for the umpteenth time that the banging and moaning had ceased totally five minutes later. He gathered his thoughts, and began.

            "Rebecca, what does Boris need?" he asked, his tone cold and collected.

            She looked surprised for a moment, and then sighed.

            "I-I'm not sure. My Med-kit doesn't have enough things in it to fully treat him, but that's been confiscated. He probably needs morphine for the pain. I'm going to need to stitch parts of the wound up, because in some places the cut is too wide." She looked down at the wound, and shook her head. "Something to clean the wound. I might be able to pull it off if I had those things. I know it's a lot but-" she started.

            "No." Billy said firmly. "We can get them. I'm sure there are plenty of things in the labs or whatnot. I guess that's what we attend to. Stan, you're going to look for a radio, telephone, fax machine, computer, or whatever we can use to get in contact with Lex. Think you can do that?" Billy asked.

            Stan looked like he was going to object for a moment, then nodded. Billy knew it wasn't like him to back down from anything.

            "Rebecca, you and I are going to look for weapons and ammo, and everything you need for Boris. Okay?" He asked, losing his firm tone.

            "Yes." She replied, squeezing Boris' hand for a moment, then stood.

            Billy looked to Jackson, who stared back at him expectantly.

            "You need to stay here and look after Boris, Jackson." Billy explained calmly. "Just make sure nothing gets in after we leave."

            Jackson sighed, and then nodded.

            Billy took a moment to think about how the weapons and ammo should be distributed, then picked up the handgun. He walked over to Rebecca, and handed it to her. He proceeded to hand the two knives to Stan and Jackson, who nodded in response.

            "Stealth is our mission here, men." He said blankly, before looking to the door.

            "We'll bring back some more weapons and ammo."

            Jackson took a seat by Boris, and held the knife out. Rebecca piped up, deciding to fill the others in.

            "The easiest way to kill a zombie is to sever the spinal cord, or deal a severe blow the head. Be careful, because they will get back up unless you've done this. Be careful around the ones that have fallen, because they will try to bite your ankles." She said, giving them the short version. Billy smirked.

            "Okay then, off we go." He said, putting a sweaty hand on the doorknob. He twisted it slowly and then pushed on it. The door gave a shallow creak, surprising Billy. It took all the nerve he had not to slam the door shut again. He opened the door a crack, and was able to peek outside.  

              The infected outside were slouching, some drooling. Bits of red-colored saliva dripped down their cheeks and landed in pools by their feet. Pieces of half eaten flesh clung to their bodies, their clothes tattered and worn with dirt and blood. They stared dumbly in front of them.

            Billy cringed and began to pen the door. It creaked a tad as it slid open, taking an eternity. He looked back to Rebecca who nodded determinedly. He kept pushing, using more force after every passing moment. He kept his eyes on one of the infected, obviously what was left of a young woman, probably about twenty years old. Her long blonde hair was bloody, and falling out in clumps.

            He motioned for Stan and Rebecca to follow him out through the now fully open door. They obliged and made no noise. He kept his eyes on the zombies, all the while praying they didn't hear or smell them…

            He scanned the horizon for any buildings that were now standing. Not more than a half a mile in front of them was a slightly burned out building. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but he assumed they could stay there awhile and look for ammo.

            He pointed to the building and hoped Rebecca and Stan got his meaning. They nodded, and looked to the building.

            "On three…one…two…THREE!"

            The three of them took off running. The zombies gave out hungry moans; finally figuring out that their victims had come out. Billy ran directly through the middle of them, Rebecca and Stan right behind him. The zombies began to close in around them, closing in with every step.

            "Keep going!" Billy felt himself scream. He watched has a male zombie in workman's clothes stumbled in his path. He gave a kick with his boot and there was an audible "crunch" sound heard. The infected flew backwards and landed sprawled on the ground, rib bones popping out of his flesh from the force of the kick. Billy didn't look back.

            Rebecca was having problems of her own. A young male zombie, a teenager, grabbed her arms in his decaying flesh. He fell to the ground, bringing the medic to her knees. She struggled to get free as the other zombies hobbled toward her, all the while increasing their speed. The teenage zombie swooped in as she looked for her gun. Billy knew he'd be too late if he ran back towards her. In a split second, Stan had his knife out.

He flicked his wrist and sliced the zombie across the neck. It recoiled, and coagulated blood splashed across Rebecca's pants. She gasped and fell backwards, only to be caught by Stan. He dragged her to her feet, just as the infected began to form a circle around the three.  

            Just before they hit the building. A zombie launched itself at Stan, tackling him. Billy growled, and Rebecca pulled out her handgun. She tried to take aim, but Billy could tell she didn't have a clear shot. Stan gasped as the zombie edged closer to his neck, teeth bared. Saliva dripped on his padded shoulders.

            "Shoot it!" Stan screamed. Rebecca kept trying to find a shot. The zombie leaned closer, almost reaching his neck. He was inches away now…

            "C'mon, you can do it. You're a better shot then you know." Billy muttered, and a flash of remembrance flashed her face. She squinted on last time, and fired. The zombie's head exploded in a flash of red and pink, and Billy and Rebecca rushed to Stan, picking him up.

            The three ran up to the building, the zombies just behind them. It had stone walls, just like most of the buildings in Zion. The door was painted a rust-colored orange. A bronze plaque read "Residential".

Billy pulled open the door, and shoved a very frazzled Rebecca and a very panicked Stan inside. Billy shoved the door closed, and flipped the lock, ignoring the zombies pounds and horrible moans. The room looked to be a break room. Two sets of lockers lined the black walls; a large oak table took up the middle. Blood was splattered on a pink package of donuts, causing Billy to look away in disgust. Papers were strewn about in a disorganized fashion. A large rubber plant on the side of the room was covered with what looked like human intestines. Rebecca blanched. Chairs were overturned, and the navy blue carpet carried the brown stains of coagulated blood.

"Well that was fun." Stan said, taking a seat in a black chair.

"A little wild, eh, Stan?" Billy asked, smirking.

Stan paled and nodded, new blood now covering his camo uniform.

"Thanks a lot for that back there Stan." Rebecca said, winded.

Stan nodded. He wiped off his knife with a dishtowel, which he immediately discarded.

Two doors stood in the room. After peeking out of both of them, Stan spoke up.

"Okay, I guess this is where we split up. I'll secure the courtyard, you two look through the rooms of the scientists." Stan said, in a tone that explained that it clearly was not a suggestion.

"Okay, be careful, okay?" Billy said, looking at his friend. Stan disappeared through the courtyard door, leaving Rebecca and Billy alone. Billy sighed, and looked around the room, making sure to stay away from the plant and donuts.

"Billy!" he heard Rebecca gasp.

"What is it?" he asked, turning to look at her.

A gray locker was open, and Rebecca was standing by it, holding a long piece of paper. She quickly cleared the table and laid it down.

"A map of the building. It seems this particular building has two floors and housed a little over one-hundred scientists and other staff." She explained, pointing at the map.

"Great, any doctor's offices?" Billy asked, hope in his voice.

She bit her lip, and scanned the map.

"There's a nurses' office in the top floor, end hallway." She memorized the map, and placed it on top of the lockers. Billy hadn't noticed the window above the lockers, until the zombies burst through it, moaning and grasping for them.

Rebecca gasped, and headed for the door, Billy on her heels.

When they emerged through the door, they found themselves in a plain hallway. The black paint had disappeared, and pale, boring, yellow wallpaper traced the wall. The floor was made up of unvarnished brown planks. There were about twelve doors on both sides, each had black numbers painted on them, starting with 14 and going up. A staircase was situated in the back of the room.

Billy shrugged, and said to Rebecca "You take the right and I'll take the left?" She nodded, and the two began to check each of the rooms. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything useful, except a few non-animate corpses and some interesting artwork. Billy found a large pipe made of iron in one of the rooms, and decided to use that as a weapon until he found a more suitable one. Rebecca came out of the last room with something in her hands. She showed him to green plants, side by side in pots.

"These things seem to grow everywhere." She beamed, sitting down and beginning to mash them and put them into two silver plastic bags.

Billy grinned back at her. "_She's a lot prettier now, even after everything that's happened to her._"

After she was done, she nodded to him, and she headed up the stairs. He held his metal pipe at his side, while she held the gun at the ready. Not surprisingly, the corridor at the top was also empty.

"They must have had an evacuation when we planted the bombs." Billy figured.

The two continued down the hallway.

 This hallway looked exactly like the first, except much smaller. Only four doors were stationed on the sides. At the end of the hallway was a plain brown door with a gold plaque.

When they reached the door, the now visible plaque read "Nurse's office" and under that, "Nurse Janelle Avery". Billy twisted the doorknob, and opened the door slowly.

            The room was surprisingly tiny. The wallpaper in here too was pale yellow, but underneath it at about waistline was different wallpaper with small blue birds and bees. On both sides of the room were two yellow curtains; the same color was the wall. They were obviously used as privacy for changing patients. Behind those curtains came the white of linen bed sheets. On the left white, a long vertical stain of blood ran towards the ground.

            Billy walked toward the ovular desk in the middle, and rifled through some papers. A memo that read the day's date jumped out at him.

_-Nurse Avery,_

_Today a new prisoner has been brought in. Interestingly enough, she is a woman. I heard she is part of one of those rebel S.T.A.R.S groups that has been causing so much trouble. Things have been such a mess since the Arklay incident._

_            Anyway, that Richcoumbe girl has been causing so much trouble lately, snooping around where she doesn't belong. I swear, if Dr. Richcoumbe doesn't take care of his daughter, I'll have to talk to Madame Vargas about dealing with her. Permanently. _

_            There is a key that blocks off the newly dug tunnel in the courtyard. I know you were so upset that you have to take care of two sets of apartments, but I wrote to tell you where the key is.     _

_            There are three keys, all hanging by the tunnel doors. Only one will work, and if you use either of the other two, they will break off in the door, making it useless. Please make sure to use the RED key, and only the RED key. Madame Vargas says that whoever breaks the door will be dealt with for their ignorance. I think it's silly myself. See you tonight at 8:00._

_                        -Dr. Jonsey Avery._

                      

            Billy read over the letter and shoved it in his back pocket. Behind the counter, a Beretta 9mm lay with matching bullets. He smiled to himself and picked them up. The Beretta had 14 shots in it, and there were 14 in the box. He checked over the pistol once, and then grinned.

            Rebecca watched him, smiling.

            The curtain near the bloodstain shook. A beat. A hollow groan came from the bed.

            A zombie wearing a hospital gown shuffled toward them. Billy was quicker than Rebecca and fired a shot, which hit the zombie straight between two white eyes. It groaned once more before falling backwards. Another groan, this time more feminine, rose from the same side of the room.

            A woman, blood staining her white uniform, stood up, her hands grasping towards Billy. He started to raise his gun, but was surprised when two bullets came straight toward the zombie. One hit her in her neck, which was already covered in blood and teeth marks from bites. The other flew through her shoulder, blood spraying from the exit wound.

            Billy looked at Rebecca, whose gun was still at the ready. She smiled at him and muttered, "Just like old times?".

            He gave a dim smile and nodded. "Just like old times."

            They thoroughly searched the Nurses' office. They found everything, from band-aids to hydrogen peroxide. Rebecca even found her Med-kit.

            "I guess they decided to empty it up here." She said, while strapping it to her waste. She muttered something about missing morphine. He watched as she picked up a plain brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some gauze and bandages.

            "The hydrogen peroxide should clean the wound pretty well." Rebecca said, smiling.

            "Yeah, my mom swears by the stuff" Billy said, and they both turned simultaneously towards the exit.

            As soon as Billy opened the door, he stepped back in surprise. Four new zombies were loitering in the hall. The four turned towards them mouths wide open. The smell from the now open rooms was awful. Billy fired three times, hitting one zombie. It hit the floor with a dull thud. Rebecca struggled with a second zombie. She had hit it twice in the chest, blood and pus seeping through the wounds. When it got close enough to her, she was able to grab it by the chin and fire one shot into its head.

            Billy dispatched another zombie in one shot, and Rebecca finally took a shot at the last, hitting it and sending it down the stairs of the hallway. The two breathed a sigh of relief and sighed.

            "Well, looks like we got this part done with. Let's go see if we can meet up with Stan." Billy said, heading down the stairs.

            He prayed that Stan hadn't used one of the keys on the Tunnel door in the courtyard. If he had, then the door might be sealed off from them, which means they'd have to find a new entrance. That would mean they'd have to waste time, and Boris wasn't getting any better.

            Rebecca crept along behind him, her footsteps fast and steady. The lower hallway had been untouched, except for the zombie corpse which they both side stepped. The continued through to the break room, which was calm, unlike the way that had left it.

            Billy headed through the door to the courtyard, which was much bigger than he thought. It was like a maze…

            The grass was thick, at least up to Billy's ankles. Straight in front him was a stone wall with ivy growing all the way up it. Layers of green were seen covering stone gray for what seemed like about a mile.

            A hedge maze.

            "Any good with mazes?" Billy asked with a sigh.

            She nodded. When I was a little girl I would play in the mazes in an amusement park near our houses. I was too scared to go on any of the rides." She replied, starting down the path.

            "Yeah, that sure does seem like something you would do." He said, chuckling.

            Rebecca rolled her eyes and hit him hard on the shoulder.

            "Hey, when I rescued you, I got rights on making fun of you, so don't hit me!" he said with mock-hurt.

            She laughed, until they hit a dead end.

            "This may be a little harder than I thought. Got any bread crumbs?" Billy asked, laughing at his own joke.

            She sighed, before pulling him along. "Let's try this way."

            They walked around for what seemed like hours. Finally, they made it to what Rebecca figured what was the middle of the maze.

            "Can we rest? I think I memorized the pattern. Right, left, right, right, left…" she kept going.

            Billy was incredibly happy she had a good memory. Stan had obviously made his way through the maze. Knowing the ex-Soldier, he probably had repeated so many curses the flower around him started dying…

            Rebecca finished her pattern recap. "Okay, I'm okay now, let's go."

            They tried the left path first, which led to a dead end. Billy was getting frustrated.

            "How did they not lose employees in here?" he half shouted to his companion.

            She shrugged, ad they headed down the right path. The walked on for a little while before Rebecca asked,

            "Do you think Stan made it out of here all right? I mean, I hope he's not lost or anything."

            "I'm sure he's fine. He knows how to use that knife. Plus if all he had to do was wander around a stupid stone maze for an hour, I'd say he's lucky." Billy said, looking calm.

            She nodded, before tripping over a tree root.

            "Oopph!" she muttered, hitting the ground hard.

            As Billy bent down to help her up, he noticed it was beginning to get dark. The sun was almost down behind the stones, which was definitely NOT a good thing.

            An almost inaudible sound played through the maze. It was like footsteps, rapid ones that moved like a wind through the tunnels of the maze. Rebecca let out a gasp as a shadow dove toward her prone form…

_A/N: Cliffhanger!!!! Woooo… anyways, thanks for reading so far. Hope you like the new chapter. School has been mean to me, and I already have homework! UgH.. Anyway, I'm probably gonna start the new chapter tomorrow, so you guys might get it sooner than you expect. _

_Daishi Mk2: Thanks! Hopefully the chapter was all you were hoping for!_

_Lady Frost1: I love Billy/Becca stories too…there are so few out there. Hopefully I'm contributing a good one. Sorry about Leon, but the others won't in the fic very long anyway._

_Ice: Thanks, I'll try!_

_Goth w/ morals: Thanks, I rewrote that at LEAST 100 times .; Yeah, I was afraid of him being out of character, but…I'll try to make it better in the future._

_Mina Aino: No, but is it EVER good for them? Lol, if umbrella makes you a zombie well…I'll just run…REALLY FAST!_

_Spider-bear: Thanks, I thought I got Billy's humor just about right. And blue and gray camo is just so cool!_

_Karategal: Thanks, I was beginning to believe it was becoming unrealistic…Thanks for the review!_

_CutieCherrie: Thanks!_

_JoJo10: Thank you! I've been reading some of your stories as well, now I just have to make sure to review. _

_Dramaqueen: Making my OCs was definitely fun. I'm attached to them as well!_

To all my reviewers: Thank you for reading my story. I appreciate it immensely. I'm going to finish this, no matter what! Hopefully all of you will stick with me as well! Now, remember I DO ACCEPT FLAMES! If anyone has read this story and feels it is horrible, please tell me. I want to make myself the best writer I can be! Thanks,

_                                                                                                                  -**Artemis**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Resident Evil 0-2:**_

_**Chapter 8**_

By: Artemis of the Moon (insert applause) 

Rebecca's cries caught in her throat as the shadow dove for her, making noises strangely similar to guttural growls and deep, exaggerated pants. Her palms smacked the unforgiving grass, and her fingers entwined within the long blades as she attempted to crawl for her safety.

Rebecca cried out suddenly as she felt something latch onto her sneaker. The pressure was unbearable, and felt as if her foot was being crushed in a machine press. She screamed in panic, flailing around for her gun. She felt her hand slide down the cool metal, and a feeling of gentle relief glided up her tense chest. She managed to pull it free of her clothing, but screamed in agony as it fell from her grasp and into the deep, swirling mass, which was the overgrown grass.

_"Shit!"_

With quick thinking, Rebecca managed to slam the Cerberus in the face with her other sneaker, causing it to let go for a moment. Rebecca began to mesh her hands with the long grass, probing in panic for her gun.

"Billy!"

She called out the military man's name twice more. A beat.

The sun had finally disappeared under the horizon, and the darkness consumed the maze as well the building surrounding it. She squinted a bit, wondering how she could have missed the darkness. She kept her eyes peeled for Billy, who seemingly had disappeared down one of the many corridors.

"Shit. Answer me, Billy!"

Nothing. The infected canine, which seemingly had been knocked down for a moment, was now back up and furious. Flecks of saliva dripped off the dog's chops as it shook its head furiously, ready to absolutely eviscerate it's prey.

Rebecca held back a scream, as she lifted herself to her feet. She glared at the dog, which stared at her intently, licking its lips at the vision of food. She waited a moment, waiting for the dog to make a move. After a split second, she took off running. The rush of grass was all that she heard behind her, as she followed the dim light the moon provided in its gibbous stage.

In the distance, she heard a gunshot. _"Billy!"_

Her aching muscles groaned in agony as she took each of the steep corners of the maze. Her legs felt like gelatin, and her breath was burning in her lungs.

"Billy! Help me, please!" she screamed, feeling herself slow down. The rush of grass was booming in her ears now. If only she could raise her legs only a little higher over the grass…

And then Rebecca's heart stopped.

Her worst nightmare, her death, her absolute terror, her undertaker peeked it's deathly face from behind the last green corner.

A dead-end.

She screamed in agony as she hit the wall, fingernails blending into mass of ivy. She tried to get a leg up on the wall, but she slipped and her feet hit the hard ground. She heard the rush of decaying muscles on weeds stop, and she knew the dog and leapt into the air, targeting her midsection. She closed her eyes, ready to embrace the end, when a loud blast erupted from the end of the corridor.

There was a whimper and Rebecca felt something bash into her legs from behind. Her hamstrings buckled, and she fell over, onto her back. Unfortunately, she landed on something hard and wet.

When Rebecca opened her eyes, she noticed she was staring at the moon, which was now partially covered by dark, foreboding clouds. She glanced down at what she was sitting on, and sighed in annoyance. The canine was underneath her, now completely motionless and utterly dead. It's yellow teeth protruded from its crimson mouth, brownish blood leaking from its temple.

A crisp and unfamiliar laugh echoed from off the brick walls, and Rebecca snapped her head to track the voice.

"Kid, we've been apart how long and you almost died?" Stan said, chuckling a little.

"I'm okay, thanks a lot." Rebecca said, pinching her nose as the smell of death had become incredibly strong.

"Let me help you up." Stan offered a gloved hand, and she took it. She stepped away from the carcass, leading Stan through the maze and back to the middle.

"Please tell me you know where Billy is." Rebecca asked, kneeling down and looking for her gun.

"No, I thought he was with you." Rebecca could tell Stan was frowning. "By the way, I hope you aren't looking for your gun. I found it a few seconds after you ran off. You're lucky I was able to follow you in time."

Rebecca sighed. She was really worried about Billy. The mage was huge, and the darkness wasn't helping the fact they didn't know where exactly the way out was. She chewed her lip in thought for a moment, but then had a realization.

"Stan, did you fire a shot back there? I mean, minus the one that killed that thing?" she asked, standing.

Stan shook his silhouetted head.

"No, I only shot one. I heard another, that must be Bill."

Rebecca sighed in relief. "Good, that means he might still be alive."

Stan nodded as well. A small orange light flickered for a moment, as well as a black cloud. Obviously, Stan had kept a pack of smokes on him. His chiseled jaw line and often-humorless gray eyes were illuminated for a moment.

"So what have you and Bill been doing?" Stan grunted, checking the gun while mumbling over his cigarette.

"Well, we have most of the supplies we need to treat Boris." She said, adjusting her Med-kit in fear that it had fallen off. "The one thing we're missing is medication for the pain. I can do what I need to without it, but he'll be in lots of pain. What about you?"

Stan grunted. "Well, I found this maze. Wandered around for a while, killed a couple puppies. Got lost a few times. I fucking _hate_ mazes."

Rebecca sighed in relief. "Good, you didn't find the door out yet."

Stan shot her a facial expression that was most likely annoyance and confusion. "Nope, not yet. Why?"

"There's a puzzle involved."

"Goody. Let's get our asses out of here, it's getting dark." Stan mumbled leading Rebecca down the nearest path.

Rebecca wondered about her new partner. She really knew absolutely nothing about Stan. She didn't even know his full name. All she knew was what she had been told, that he had a volatile disposition and had been court marshaled – probably not for the same reason as Billy.

"Stan?"

"Hmm?" he replied in annoyance, seeming half ready to smack the young medic any second.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" she asked.

"Do you really think this is the time? I don't know how they do things in Colorado, princess, but I do know there is a time for quiet and there is a time for incessant chatter. This is a time for silence." He growled.

"I just wanted to know why you were court-marshaled."

Stan stopped for a moment, as if taking in the question. He then spun around and grabbed Rebecca by the shoulders, shaking her slightly. He looked her in the eyes, and she tried to clamp them shut. His warm breath landed on her face, and she tried effortlessly to push his strong arms off of her.

He glanced at her scared expression for a moment, before letting go. Rebecca rubber her arm sorely, refusing to look into his eyes.

"Can you tell I don't like to talk about it?" he remarked, tossing his cigarette into the grass and stopping on it with his blood-splattered combat boot.

Rebecca nodded grimly.

"Sorry."

"Just stop talking, kid." Came the growled response.

They walked in silence for a few moments, hitting two dead ends. Stan cursed up a storm (just as Billy had predicted earlier on), and Rebecca tried to rule out each of the possibilities they had already used.

"_FUCK!" _Stand raged, kicking the wall with his heavy boot.

"Calm down." Rebecca chided. "That only leaves us with two possibilities."

They backtracked for a moment, presented with their two remaining choices.

"Right or left?" Rebecca asked her malicious partner, raising an eyebrow.

"Left." Stan grunted, offering no more information.

Rebecca admitted that she very much missed Billy. After the violent display committed by Stan not more than ten minutes ago, Rebecca wondered if she could really trust the man. She silently remembered the fact that Billy trusted Stan, which was good enough for her.

Stan was walking at an incredibly fast pace; Rebecca was forced to jog to keep up with him. She noticed another shadow barreling it's way down the trail, right for them.

"Stan!" she shouted, feeling totally powerless. Stan kept walking.

"Stan, you're running right for it!" she stopped moving, now shouting at the top of her lungs. _"Does he see it? Please tell me he sees it!" _The shadow, which was quite obviously another infected canine, was finally fully illuminated by the dancing moonlight. It growled and jumped at Stan, fully ready to clamp it's muscular jaws.

"Stan!" Rebecca gasped out.

At the last possible moment, Stan pulled out his handgun and fired twice.

The dog fell down dead. Rebecca felt like she was about to go into shock.

She had known Stan was good, but THAT good?

She sprinted to catch up with him, still in awe of his skills.

They stopped in front of a large, metal door. The metal had oxidized long ago, leaving a nasty brown and yellow color. The common mixture of weed and grass died down leaving a much more modest look of trimmed grass. Two giant stone pillars that reached into the black skies ominously surrounded the door. Situated at face-height was a small alcove of the same decrepit metal. Rebecca walked up to the alcove and examined the contents. There were three small keys hanging from silver hangers. One was yellow, the other blue, and the last, red.

"_Hmm…" _Rebecca mused, trying to remember the letter she found in the nurse's office. "_It was red, if I remember correctly."_

Stan stepped up next to her, examining the keys. "So which one is it?" he muttered the question.

Rebecca lifted the red key off its hanger, and then strolled over to the door. She put the key in the lock.

"What is it?" Stan asked, glancing at her as she paused.

"I…the key is still here. That means Billy hasn't made it here yet."

Stan sighed in annoyance. "So?" he asked, lacking compassion.

"Well, what if he's…what if he…didn't make it?" Rebecca asked, her voice slightly wavering. Images of Billy traveled into her head.

Stan sighed again, but replacing the annoyance was one of interest and empathy.

"Girl, I've known Bill for a long time. He's one of the most competent soldiers I know. He's fine. Probably a little pissed off and lost, but fine." Stan commented staring at the red key lodged in the lock.

Rebecca nodded and smiled. Somehow, however, she could not put her anxiety about Billy behind her. Remembering her promise to Boris, she turned the key until she heard an audible click.

When she opened the door, she was hit by the overpowering scent of death and hot, stale air. Overhanging light bulbs traced by metal caging dimly lit the jealous passage. The girl assumed the lights were set on an automatic system. The tunnel was laced with a fine layer of dirt, and the ceiling was just a light gray concrete. The walls were made of a metal sheet, and were curved at the top, making the tunnel an almost perfect semicircle.

Rebecca looked ahead, attempting to get her eyes to adjust to the new light. Chunks of concrete lined the dirt floors, and parts of the metal sheeting were blown off, leaving only black, charred edges. A jeep lay on its side, upholstery burned off and fried bodies sprawled out still in their seatbelts. Lab coats were black and white, covering unidentifiable bodies of Umbrella scientists. It was obvious these men had not been killed by the infected.

The smell of death and burnt flesh hit Rebecca tenfold.

Covering her nose, Rebecca inspected the damage. Stan chortled and looked around the tunnel, a smirk planted on his face.

"Those explosives worked out really nice." He said, still admiring his handiwork.

Rebecca rolled her eyes and walked towards the jeep. The green metal was black, and steam rolled from behind the hood in billows. She approached one of the soldiers dressed in all black. There was no point in checking his pulse, as his body was massively burnt. The skin on his face was red and wrinkled in some places; black and missing in others. His eyes were missing, probably burnt off somewhere along the way. She reached into his jacket and removed a very warm handgun and some ammo. Luckily, the gun still seemed in decent shape, though the jacket it was hiding in almost disintegrated at her touch. She loaded the handgun and showed Stan.

"Nice." He commented.

Rebecca thought she might actually be enjoying Stan's company. As long as she didn't talk, he seemed like he respected her company. She had been awfully nosy before; and his business was his business. She hadn't majored in science without the ability to easily become curious, however.

After travelling deeper within the tunnel, Rebecca and Stan found themselves in front of a large metal shutter that almost identically matched the walls. An outset including a hexagonal hole sat right next to the door.

"Got anything that will fit in there?" Stan grunted, pushing on the shutter.

Rebecca shook her head, light brown hair swishing to the side.

"Looks like we aren't getting in here." She said, turning heel and walking further into the tunnel.

The dark sky loomed over them and they watched it through large gaps in the ceiling.

At the end of the tunnel, they discovered two doors. "**Residential Area #2 –Foreman, Construction, Other." **Was posted above the first door, a plain looking green door. The other door, about four feet away from the other, was brown with ornate carvings of cherubs riding griffins. Above it, a sign read "**Library and Common Room."** Rebecca tested the knobs of both doors, making sure both were unlocked. The doors were both slightly burnt, but nowhere near as bad as the rest of the extensive passageway.

"Well, since you found yourself a nice new weapon, I think we should split here. If you hit any trouble, come find me. We'll meet back here in about thirty minutes." Stan said, looking her up and down.

Rebecca nodded. Though she felt a sudden apprehension at being alone again, she realized that cowering and asking if she could tag along with Stan would probably only make the other man furious. So, she decided to buck up and take the Residential Area on by herself. Stan quickly disappeared through the beautiful door, without any words.

Rebecca turned the metal knob and pointed her gun outwards, then to the side as she had learned in S.T.A.R.S training. After fanning out, she inspected the room.

Much to her chagrin, the second Residential Area matched the first one identically. Same unvarnished wooden floor, same boring planks, and hideous peeling wall paper that somehow reminded Rebecca of leprosy. The one difference was an overturned water cooler and stacks of obviously dropped papers. After making sure there were no threats, Rebecca began to pick up papers and glanced at them. One piece of paper, colored a rosy pink, had the block letters "**MEMO**" written at the top. Rebecca glanced at the paper.

_To whom it may concern:_

_The owner of room 21 (Mr. James A. Garth – supervisor of construction) has severe medical issues. As Nurse Avery's office is busy and she cannot handle many patients at a time, the owner of this room has personal access to his/her own drugs (Vicodin – 500mg). During mandatory room checks, please ignore this drug and do NOT confiscate or destroy these drugs, as they are vital in the health of the resident._

_Thank you,_

_Miss January S. Craig, Umbrella Zion Division President of Residency._

As Rebecca finished reading the note, she smiled at her find. Vicodin wasn't morphine, but it would definitely help with Boris's pain. Assuming that Mr. Garth had left the Vicodin during the evacuation, she was in luck.

Rebecca began to check the rooms one by one, a tiring job that seemed to take ages. She remembered doing the first set with Billy, which cut the job in half. After checking room 20 and not finding anything useful, she ascended the stairs at the back of the hallway. She was anxious when she entered.

The room, unlike most of the others, was very lived in. Rebecca was impressed by the size of the rooms, as they had their own adjoining bathrooms. She began to check in the drawers of an old mahogany desk near the back. Unfortunately, the owner had obviously not hidden the Vicodin in any of the drawers. Cursing, Rebecca decided to check the bathroom. She opened the door slowly, and then cried out as she was suddenly forced backwards. An infected, slightly hunched over to the side, emerged. His face was pail and white hair stood out over his blue construction helmet. The arm of his pale blue dress shirt was soaked in dried blood.

Rebecca reached for her gun and unloaded a few shots into the zombie. The first hit his chest, rocketing it backwards. She then took a final aim, fired, and watched the bullet enter its cheek, spraying skull shards and coagulated blood on the white wall behind it.

Rebecca grimaced as she stepped over the body and checked the bathroom. It was empty, and this was obvious because the bathroom only contained a weather worn shower sprouting mold and a very unclean toilet. Rebecca spent then next five minutes turning over the mattress and knocking the desk over.

When she was about to give up, she heard the undead near the bathroom give an unhealthy gurgle.

She glared at it. "Where did you hide those pills?" she asked it, as if it could answer. Then realization hit.

She crept near the body and checked its shirt pocket. Next, she moved her hand very carefully towards the jean pockets. She made sure to hold her breath, as the smell was intense. Vomiting at this point did not seem pleasing, either. The girl put her hand into the zombie's other jean pocket, feeling the plastic top of a pill bottle. She grinned.

"Score!" she laughed.

The zombie's eyes opened suddenly, and a gray-tinted hand latched onto Rebecca's cheeks. She was unable to wrench the pill bottle out of the tight jeans, and the zombie was now moving closer to her every second.

"Ugh!" she yelped, trying to mover her head out of the zombie's iron grasp. In one fluid motion, she pushed herself backwards, yanking the pill bottle out of the jeans and head out of the infected's grasp.

She whipped out her pistol and aimed carefully for the forehead, this time watching happily as the zombie's head imploded, seemingly falling into mushy pieces.

"Whew!" she giggled.

She examined the pill bottle and found there was just enough to relieve Boris' pain. Now all she had to do was worry about time.

Rebecca left the room, grinning at the prone form of the undead in the room.

Rebecca checked the remaining rooms, finding nothing but a case of handgun ammo. She reloaded her gun and headed to the end of the hallway. There was one door at the end of the hallway, varnished wood with one glass window. In bold letters, the words "**January Craig – President of Residency**" were across the window.

Rebecca felt the cold of the knob as she put her hand on it. She twisted it slowly, allowing herself to enter the room and fan it with her gun. A ceiling fan spun ominously, the gentle hum coming into Rebecca's ears. There was one porcelain pink lamp in the center of the room, and the ceiling fan cast a rotating shadow that would spin eerily around the room.

There was single desk in the room, and atop it was the body of a woman. Her pale face adorned smeared make-up, crimson lipstick spread across her jaw line and a thin line of mascara jutting out of both of her eyes. Her brown hair, probably in a neat bun while she was alive, was now misplaced and was poking out of her head in odd places.

Rebecca sighed. She checked the woman's pulse, but she was quite obviously dead. Her body was slumped over the desk, legs lifted off the ground ever so slightly. Her gray suit was had no obvious spots of blood, however that did not mean she wasn't infected. Rebecca was about to tiptoe away from the corpse, when something black caught her eye. Underneath the body of the woman, situated between her breasts and a green inkblot, was a shotgun. She carefully pulled it out, examining it.

The label on the butt read "Remmington". It was pump-action, but only had three shells loaded into it. She knew if Billy was present he would give her that roguish grin he was so known for, especially when finding weapons. That was about the time she heard a snap, something that sounded like a cross between a bungee snapping and the slamming of a bat on hard wood. She whipped around, waving the shotgun frantically.

She noticed a long string of red leading into the woman's corpse. It punctured a hole into her shoulder blade and dragged her slowly to the ground.

The string was actually a tongue, belonging to a hideous monster standing no more than five feet from Rebecca, pearly white claws dug into the wall. It seemed to glare at her through the strange pink holes where its eyes should be. Its brain was exposed, pulsating and lined with blue and red lines. Its limbs were long and muscular, probably giving it both strength and speed. The monster was something out of her nightmares – in fact it had been her nightmare ever since she stepped foot into the helicopter that day. It's long serrated tongue whipped around its face menacingly.

She remembered the creature well; Chris and Jill affectionately called it a "Licker."

Rebecca was mesmerized by it's as it's long, yellowed teeth chopped into the woman's back, tearing clothing, flesh, muscles and bones from her body. It was then that the Licker decided to focus on new prey – Rebecca.

Faster than she assumed, the tongue lashed out at Rebecca. She yelped and moved to the left, watching the tongue extend into the wall behind her. She aimed the shotgun and fired, watching the shot veer past the Licker, hitting the tacky porcelain lamp. Now the room was much darker, which didn't seem to affect the Licker one bit. Its tongue raced under the desk, and found Rebecca's ankle.

Rebecca, whose eyes were still adjusting to the dark, took a kneeling position. The Licker's tongue wrapped around her ankle then recoiled, forcing her to the ground. She felt the shotgun leave her grasp for a moment, and as a reflex, extended her right arm to catch the weapon as it fell. She quickly aimed at the desk she was being dragged towards, and fired. The desk shattered and splintered into many different directions. Rebecca stood, and took aim at the Licker's exposed cerebrum. Before, the creature could get it's bearings, Rebecca fired her last shot. The brain exploded into fluid, and the creature howled from somewhere deep inside itself. It crashed backwards, hitting the ground with an audible "plop". Rebecca waited a moment for her breath to return to her lungs, before examining the rest of the office. In the remains of the desk, she found a small statuette depicting a headless night in ivory. She shoved it in her pocket absently.

She decided to leave the residential area in hopes that Stan had found way of communication. When she returned to the tunnel (and the awful stench) Stan was not back yet. She walked over to the door (once again admiring the beautiful carving) and tried the gold knob. Her eyes widened.

It was locked.

Feeling her chest get tense, she began to hit the door with her palm.

"Stan! Open up, it's me!" she yelled. After waiting a moment, she sighed, She began to travel back through the tunnel, in hopes of finding Billy. She was pretty much stuck.

_A/N: Well, no cliffie this time. Oh well. _

_SO SORRY I haven't updated!_

_Please except my apology. I wuv you guys. I'll answer reviews next time._


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